Talking to your cat is completely normal. We don’t expect any responses, but it’s almost an obvious urge to devote a few words to our pets, unconsciously and as we’re good social beings. It’s no longer a secret in Western cultures that most people talk to their pets. One reason is that most of us blindly trust that pets receive all these verbal cues. And we’re not really wrong.

A recent study provided evidence that cats can distinguish their owners’ voices from those of strangers and understand when we speak to them directly.

Study. Researchers from the Université Paris Nanterre, led by ethologist Charlotte de Mouzon, set out to confirm that the human-cat relationship is “close and valuable.” Now, they have published a study. Animal Cognition they played a series of recordings with 16 cats in their home environment to test their ability to distinguish between the voices of their owners and strangers. The researchers also investigated whether cats could distinguish between self-directed speech, a specific tone that humans use to address animals, and the tone we use to talk to each other.

What conclusions do we draw? The way people talk to cats falls into the “sitter” speech pattern in a special way we address other animals like dogs and babies. A cute and childlike vocalization with subtle distinctions in tone where hyper articulation, shorter phrases, more repetition, high pitch and higher pitch variation stand out.

Thus, the team observed that cats could identify and recognize their owners’ voices, as well as the difference in the way they spoke to them (knowing that they had received the message) or the way they interacted with other humans. Also, the study suggests that they are able to distinguish the owner from the stranger. And not only that: the cats did not seem to react to the voices of strangers, whatever the tone.

They are passing us. It is gathered in several previous studies This indicates that cats recognize their owner’s voice, but sometimes do not react to it. While cats may react more to their owners’ call than to their owners doing the same, they don’t bother to stand up either way. The authors believe that cats’ “naughty” attitudes are a product of their last 9,000-year evolutionary history. As we’ve told Xataka in other articles, cats, like dogs, have not historically been domesticated to obey man’s orders.

Cats are this fascinating animal. This study is the latest example of a renaissance in feline research that has already revealed that cats can know each other’s names or prefer interacting with humans rather than getting food. 2017 research from the University of Oregon stated that they chose to play with people more than other stimuli. Of course, it’s the case with tuna cans that often takes second place.

There are other studies analyzed the potential sociability of these animals concludes that the degree of commitment is “flexible” and “teachable.” The more verbal, visual, or gestural attention you give a cat, the more time it tends to spend with you… and vice versa.

It’s hard to work. As we explain in Magnet, for decades the intelligence of species has been measured by their sociability to us. We know that dogs are adaptable, while cats are much more independent. But Scientists have criticized The lack of available information indicates that we suffer from the availability bias: Since it is easier to study dogs than cats, we have dozens of studies on the former and not the latter. Mainly because it’s a pain in the ass to convince cats to finish the tests we give them. There is less research, yes, but still really interesting.

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