16 Scientific American, June 2019GETTY IMAGESANIMAL COGNITIONCats Know
Their Names
Felines distinguish between
their monikers and similar-
sounding wordsCats are notorious for their indifference
to humans: almost any owner will testify
to how readily these animals ignore us
when we call them. But a new study
indicates domestic cats do recognize their
own names—even if they walk away
when they hear them.
Atsuko Saito, a behavioral scientist
now at Sophia University in Tokyo, pre vi -
ous ly showed that cats can recognize
their owner’s voice. In her latest study,
which involved 78 cats from Japanese
households and a “cat café,” she homed
in on responses to their names.
Saito and her colleagues first had
owners repeatedly say four words that
sounded similar to their cats’ names until
the animals habituated to those words
and stopped responding. Next the owners
said the actual names, and the researchers
looked at whether individual cats (when
living among other cats) appeared able to
distinguish their monikers. The cats had
more pronounced responses to their own
names—meowing or moving their ears,
heads or tails—than to similar words or
other cats’ names, according to the
study, which was published in April in
Scientific Reports.
The researchers also had people
unfamiliar to the cats speak the names.
Although the felines’ responses were
less prominent than when their owners
called them, they still appeared to
recognize their names.
“This new study clearly shows that
many cats react to their own nameswhen spoken by their owners,” says biolo
gist John Bradshaw, who formerly studied
humananimal interactions at the University
of Bristol’s Anthrozoology Institute and
was not involved in the work. But Bradshaw
says he is less convinced cats can recog
nize their names when spoken by some
one unfamiliar. “I think that it’s entirely
possible that some cats are able to gen er
alize between one human voice and an
other, but I’d like to see more trials before
I’d say that the evidence is compelling,”
he says.
Saito says the felines in the experi
ments probably “associated their names
with some rewards or punish ments,” and
she thinks it is unlikely they understand
that these sounds are attached to them
as individuals. “There is no evidence that
cats have the ability to recognize them
selves, like us,” she explains. “So the
recognition [of] their name is different
from ours.” Still, it may be possible to
teach cats to recog nize other words.
Whether that could allow humans to train
cats to respond to commands—as dogs
readily do—is another matter.
“Cats are just as good as dogs at
learning,” Bradshaw says. “They’re just
not as keen to show their owners what
they’ve learned.” — Jim DaleyADVANCES
“Cats are just
as good as dogs
at learning.”
— John Bradshaw
University of Bristol
© 2019 Scientific American16 Scientific American, June 2019GETTY IMAGESANIMAL COGNITIONCats Know
Their Names
Felines distinguish between
their monikers and similar-
sounding wordsCats are notorious for their indifference
to humans: almost any owner will testify
to how readily these animals ignore us
when we call them. But a new study
indicates domestic cats do recognize their
own names—even if they walk away
when they hear them.
Atsuko Saito, a behavioral scientist
now at Sophia University in Tokyo, pre vi-
ous ly showed that cats can recognize
their owner’s voice. In her latest study,
which involved 78 cats from Japanese
households and a “cat café,” she homed
in on responses to their names.
Saito and her colleagues first had
owners repeatedly say four words that
sounded similar to their cats’ names until
the animals habituated to those words
and stopped responding. Next the owners
said the actual names, and the researchers
looked at whether individual cats (when
living among other cats) appeared able to
distinguish their monikers. The cats had
more pronounced responses to their own
names—meowing or moving their ears,
heads or tails—than to similar words or
other cats’ names, according to the
study, which was published in April in
Scientific Reports.
The researchers also had people
unfamiliar to the cats speak the names.
Although the felines’ responses were
less prominent than when their owners
called them, they still appeared to
recognize their names.
“This new study clearly shows that
many cats react to their own nameswhen spoken by their owners,” says biolo
gist John Bradshaw, who formerly studied
humananimal interactions at the University
of Bristol’s Anthrozoology Institute and
was not involved in the work. But Bradshaw
says he is less convinced cats can recog
nize their names when spoken by some
one unfamiliar. “I think that it’s entirely
possible that some cats are able to gen er
alize between one human voice and an
other, but I’d like to see more trials before
I’d say that the evidence is compelling,”
he says.
Saito says the felines in the experi
ments probably “associated their names
with some rewards or punish ments,” and
she thinks it is unlikely they understand
that these sounds are attached to them
as individuals. “There is no evidence that
cats have the ability to recognize them
selves, like us,” she explains. “So the
recognition [of] their name is different
from ours.” Still, it may be possible to
teach cats to recog nize other words.
Whether that could allow humans to train
cats to respond to commands—as dogs
readily do—is another matter.
“Cats are just as good as dogs at
learning,” Bradshaw says. “They’re just
not as keen to show their owners what
they’ve learned.” — Jim DaleyADVANCES
“Cats are just
as good as dogs
at learning.”
— John Bradshaw
University of Bristol
sad0619Adva3p.indd 16 4/17/19 6:19 PM
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