Have you ever entered the house and no matter where you are in the house, it seems like cats always know exactly where you are? Well, it might not be quite as random as you think.
Cats are often judged as aloof and cold to everyone in their world. However, most cat owners know that this stereotype is quite false.
They actually have a very emotional and loving side to them. In fact, our cats can be quite needy in their own right.
There is indeed research to support that. In 2019, a study was published in PLOS One proved that cats are actually more attached to us than we think. In fact, they often follow us throughout the house!
A team of Japanese scientists, led by Saho Takagi from the department of psychology at Kyoto University, has observed that our cats are indeed tracking our whereabouts at home. Even if they’re not in the same room as us, they use the clues in their environment to piece together where we might be in the house. They are like little hairy stalkers!
The researchers conducted an experience where they recorded the voices of cat owners calling their cats’ names, as well as the voices of strangers and the sounds of other cats. The experiment was then conducted by playing different recordings while observing the reactions of the cats.
They found that the cats expressed the greatest surprise when they heard their owners’ voices – especially because they had previously seen their owners exit the room. With these results, it shows that our cats are calculating the diagram of where we can be in the house.
The results showed that cats were surprised when their owners appeared to be ‘teleported’ to a new, unexpected location, but they did not react in the same way when tested with non-social stimuli. These results suggest that cats express their owners’ spirits invisibly and map their owners’ locations from their owners’ voices, suggesting evidence of social-spatial perception.”
What do you think of these findings? Do you think that means our cats love us more than they allow? Let us know what you think!
