Cat got your tongue?
A new study has found that cats can actually recognize their owner’s voice when they’re speaking to them — especially when the cat fanciers use cutesy baby talk.
Felines can also tell if it’s their owner talking or a complete stranger and respond accordingly, the study, published in the Animal Cognition journal Tuesday, said.
The research from Université Paris Nanterre in France suggests what many owners may have already believed: Cats and their humans can form strong bonds.
“Our results highlight the importance of one-to-one relationships for cats,” the study’s authors wrote.
“These findings bring a new dimension to the consideration of human-cat relationship, as they imply the development of a particular communication into human-cat dyads, that relies upon experience.”
The study found cats can distinguish when their owner is talking directly to them as opposed to another adult. Their behavior significantly increased when hearing a high pitched cat-directed tone, like when speaking to a child, researchers said.
While the cats could distinguish when their owner was speaking in a cat-directed or adult-directed tone, the felines did not react any differently when a stranger switched between the two.
The small study rounded up 16 cats to record how they reacted to recordings of their owner’s voice and that of a stranger.
Researchers also examined how each feline responded to a tone directed to them (cat-directed speech) and their owner’s voice directed at another person (adult-directed speech).
The study found the cats were able to distinguish between the phrases spoken by their owners.
When the cats heard their owner’s voice, they reacted by turning their ears toward the speaker, moving around the room and dilating their pupils.
But when a stranger spoke and called their name, the cats showed a decrease in behavior intensity.
Similar reactions were found when it came to tone, according to the researchers.
While the authors cautioned the sample size was small and may not represent all cat behaviors, they said the findings bring a new dimension to cat-owner relationships.
“Our results highlight the importance of one-to-one relationships for cats, reinforcing recent literature regarding the ability for cats and humans to form strong bonds,” the authors said.
They added that future research could investigate if their findings are replicated in more socialized cats that are used to interacting with strangers.
The interest in the study was sparked by how most humans speak to their pets.
“The way dogs respond to dog-directed speech has raised scientists’ interest,” the authors said. “In contrast, much less is known about how cats perceive and respond to cat-directed speech.”
They added: “The primary aim of this study was to evaluate whether cats are more responsive to cat-directed speech and adult-directed speech.”