Cats Have the Power to Distinguish Between Human Voices

Now you may ask yourself “does my cat pick favorites among the people in the household then?” Well, it could be because they know who is calling them, and they decide from there whether they want to come to them or not.

This empirical study was established through the experimenters, Saito and Shinozuka, playing five different vocalizations having one of them to be the cat’s owner. The best way to test recognition through the voice is to record people of the same sex of the owner and having them say the cat’s name with the same emotional affection. With that being said, the experimenters had then recorded all of the behavioral responses of the cat reacting to the five different recording of voices. Such behaviors like ear movement, head movement, pupil dilation, vocalization, tail movement, and displacement.

“The behavioral responses of the cats differed depending on the source of the vocalization (owner or strangers), with their response magnitude increasing when presented with their owner’s voice” (Shreve and Udell, 2015). This result determined cats being able to distinguish individual voices that can also have an influence in their behavior. Something like training which is commonly believed impossible for cats. If cats can recognize individual voices through many skills like tone of voice, they are very much capable to recognize a demand of task if it is learned the correct way. The experimenters Saito and Shinozuka found that cats respond to human voices through orienting behavior like ear movement and head movement rather than a communicative way like vocalization and tail movement.

Amongst humans, we try to understand our cats in ways they try to communicate with us. One of those behaviors that cats commonly use as a communicative act is purring. Overtime scientists have realized that cats use purring for many different communicating reasons. High and low purring mean two different things, and it is usually difficult for humans to fully understand their cats needs. However, research is still being conducted on this situational purring for communicating with humans, amongst other cats, and amongst their own mother as a kitten. This study is extremely important because cat owners try to build a bond with their pets and the very first goal is to understand each other through vocalization and other communicating way. So this read is important to those who want to have a better bond with their cat. Maybe your cat won’t have a favorite and will respond to everyone in the household if we all understand each other. Communication is key in a relationship.

Vitale Shreve, K., & Udell, M. (2015). What’s inside your cat’s head? A review of cat (Felissilvestris catus) cognition research past, present and future. Animal Cognition, 18(6), 1195–1206. Retrieved from http://0-search.ebscohost.com.sophia.agnesscott.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eoah&AN=36314474&site=pfi-live