A new study has found that cats may be quicker learners than human babies when it comes to recognizing words. According to a report from Phys.org, researchers at Azabu University in Japan recently published their findings in Scientific Reports, revealing how cats outpace infants in word-object learning.
The research team focused on 31 adult cats, building on past studies that showed cats can recognize their names and react differently to specific words. This new study aimed to test how well cats could associate words with objects. To do this, the researchers trained the cats by showing them pictures while repeatedly playing corresponding words. Once the training was complete, the researchers played incorrect words with the same images, observing the cats’ reactions to see if they noticed the mismatch.
The results were telling—the cats spent about 33% more time looking at the screen when the wrong word played. Researchers believe this indicated confusion, as the cats noticed the inconsistency between the image and the word. Interestingly, this method was based on a similar study conducted in the 1990s on 14-month-old infants, which allowed the researchers to draw some comparisons.
While babies needed about four exposures to a 20-second video to connect a word with an image, cats formed these associations after just two exposures (around 9 seconds). Lead author Saho Takagi noted that while this suggests cats are quicker at learning words than infants, it’s important to consider the different conditions under which the experiments were conducted. For instance, the infants heard unfamiliar voices with varying intonations, while the cats listened to recordings of their owners’ familiar voices, which may have influenced their reactions.
Despite these differences, the study highlights cats’ impressive ability to quickly form word-object associations, demonstrating cognitive capabilities that are often underestimated in these animals.
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