Cats can memorise their friends’ names
Recent studies suggest domestic cats may share some of the same language recognition skills seen in dogs. In 2019, a team of Japanese researchers reported they had demonstrated that cats could recognise their own names in a series of spoken words. New research suggests this familiarity may also extend to a house cat’s feline friends. Researchers quizzed 48 domestic cats on the names of their fellow felines. 29 of the cats were residents of Japanese cat cafés, while the other 19 came from private residences that were home to three or more cats each.
For each cat participant, the researchers played an audio recording of the cat’s owner calling another cohabitating cat’s name several times in a row. After the fourth call, the researchers showed the participant cat a picture on a monitor; in two of the four trials that followed, the picture showed the face of the cat the owner had called – dubbed the congruous condition – while in the remaining trials the picture showed the face of a different cohabitating cat than the one the owner had called – the incongruous condition.
The researchers found that the house cats, but not the café cats, often stared at the monitor
longer when the incongruous picture was on the screen, suggesting that the cats had their expectations violated and were trying to grapple with the fact that their feline friends’ names and faces did not line up. “We demonstrated that cats expect a specific face upon hearing the specific name of a companion,” the researchers wrote. “This study provides evidence that cats link a companion’s name and corresponding face without explicit training.”
The café cats didn’t pay much attention to the monitor during the incongruous condition and paid less attention to the trials overall than the house cats did. This suggests that café cats are likely less familiar with each of their feline friends than the house cats are, and may hear individual cats’ names called less often. House cats, on the other hand, are more likely to hear their companions’ names called more often – especially during feeding time, when the calling of a cat’s name determines which animal gets food and which doesn’t. This may give house cats more opportunities and greater incentive to link a companion cat’s name with its face. Of course, any study of house cat behaviour must be taken with a grain of catnip, given the challenges of holding a cat’s focus.