Research now indicates that cats may routinely adjust their owner's tone of voice to detect when they are talking to them, rather than to other humans.
Researchers say cats are largely unresponsive to hearing a stranger calling, but do pay close attention when they hear their owner calling.
Most people automatically adopt a sing-along tone when talking to cats and babies. Although previous research had indicated that such "baby talk" was more likely to attract the attention of dogs, little was known about how cats would react when spoken to in this way.
To confirm this, and as indicated by the English newspaper The Guardian, Charlotte de Mouzon and her colleagues from the University of Paris Nanterre observed how 16 cats responded to hearing pre-recorded sentences spoken by their owner or a stranger, by recording changes in their behavior, such as moving their ears or tails, and suddenly stopping. what it was.
They found that the cats were largely unresponsive to hearing a stranger calling out to them, but when their owner did so, 10 of the 16 cats showed a range of behaviors indicative of increased attention.
Cats also showed more signs of interest when they heard their owner speak sentences in a tone normally used to address their cat — but not when a stranger used that tone, or when their owner spoke the same sentence as if you were addressing a fellow adult human.
For a long time, cats were thought to be completely independent beings, only interested in [humans] to eat Food and shelter, but the fact that they interact specifically with their owner, and not just anyone who addresses them, supports more evidence to encourage humans to regard cats as sensitive, communicative individuals.
Although it's not entirely surprising that cats are more responsive to their owners' voices, the fact that they seem to filter out unimportant information is interesting, said Roger Tabor, biologist and author of 100 Ways to Understand Your Cat.
Given these findings, de Mouzon said cat owners should not feel embarrassed about speaking to their pets in this way.
