Cats match voice and face: cross-modal representation of humans in cats (Felis catus)

• Takagi, Saho

  Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University・Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

• Arahori, Minori

  Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University・Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

• Chijiiwa, Hitomi

  Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University・Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

• Saito, Atsuko

  Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human SciencesSophia University

• Kuroshima, Hika

  Department of Psychology, Graduate School of LettersKyoto University

• Fujita, Kazuo

  Department of Psychology, Graduate School of LettersKyoto University

Abstract

We examined whether cats have a cross-modal representation of humans, using a cross-modal expectancy violation paradigm originally used with dogs by Adachi et al. (Anim Cogn 10:17–21, 2007). We compared cats living in houses and in cat cafés to assess the potential effect of postnatal experience. Cats were presented with the face of either their owner or a stranger on a laptop monitor after playing back the voice of one of two people calling the subject’s name. In half of the trials the voice and face were of the same person (congruent condition) whereas in the other half of trials the stimuli did not match (incongruent condition). The café cats paid attention to the monitor longer in incongruent than congruent conditions, showing an expectancy violation. By contrast, house cats showed no similar tendency. These results show that at least café cats can predict their owner’s face upon hearing the owner’s voice, suggesting possession of cross-modal representation of at least one human. There may be a minimal kind or amount of postnatal e

Journal

• Animal cognition

  Animal cognition 22 (5), 901-906, 2019-09

  Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Keywords

• Cross-modal representation
• Cats
• Felis catus
• Expectancy violation method

Details

• CRID: 1050564288426311424
• NII Article ID: 120006716591
• ISSN: 14359448
• ISSN: 14359456
• DOI: 10.1007/s10071-019-01265-2
• HANDLE: 2433/243873
• Web Site: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-019-01265-2.pdf
• Web Site: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-019-01265-2/fulltext.html
• Text Lang: en
• Article Type: journal article
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN