[Animals] Cats recognize and react to the voice of their human families, study reveals

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It's real: house cats ignore us. It all depends on what tone of voice we speak to them, according to a study.
I have three cats. I know how frustrating it is that when you speak to them by name, they just choose to ignore you—unless they want food, feel like cuddling, or need something from me. It turns out that there is a scientific reason behind this common behavior: it all has to do with the tone of voice with which we address our companion cats.

The University of Paris conducted a study to explain this phenomenon. It turns out, according to the research team, that domestic cats change their behavior according to the pitch they perceive in the human voice. This is what we know about it.

Also read: What the 5 most common gestures mean in the language of cats

How do cats react to the human voice?

For the study, French researcher Charlotte de Mouzon took a sample of 16 cats. In a controlled laboratory environment, the specialist and her colleagues recorded how the cats reacted to different registers of human voice. Some recordings were their own owners; others were of strangers talking.

The study was recently published in Animal Cognition, and highlights the fact that in contemporary Western cultures, we humans talk to our companion animals (not just cats). Generally, say the authors, we speak to them as if they were children, or with a 'baby voice'.

What happens when a stranger talks to a cat?

When the cats recognized their owners' voices, the researchers noted that they remained at rest, activated their ears, dilated their pupils, and changed their tail movement. Instead, when a stranger addressed them, they simply ignored him:

“[…] CATS MAY DISCRIMINATE SPEECH DIRECTED SPECIFICALLY AT THEM FROM SPEECH DIRECTED TO ADULT HUMAN, WHEN THEIR OWNERS PRONOUNCE SENTENCES,” THE RESEARCHERS WRITE IN THE ARTICLE.

From the results of the research, scientists determined that cats have the ability to recognize the voice of their owners and react to it. Not only that: they are capable of ignoring us — even more so when they do not recognize us as part of their close circle.

For this reason, the discoveries shed new light on "the development of a particular communication in human-cat dyads", they detail. Especially, those that are created one by one, since they reinforce the deep emotional ties that both species have with each other.

https://www.ngenespanol.com/animales/como-reaccionan-los-gatos-a-la-voz-humana/