Cats associate words and images faster than human babies, study says (freepic.diller – Freepik)
A new study published in “Scientific Reports” reveals that cats can learn associations between words and images more quickly than human babies.
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Without specific training, the cats demonstrated the ability to understand words just by listening to their caregivers. In an experiment, 31 adult cats watched animated images while hearing a made-up word repeatedly. When exposed to incorrect combinations of the word and image, the cats showed increased attention, indicating they had made the association.
The research, conducted by Saho Takagi and her team, found that most cats were able to learn the association after just two sessions of 9 seconds each, while 14-month-old babies require more time and repetition to learn words.
This suggests that cats pay more attention to what we say in everyday life than previously thought. In the long term, this ability may be a result of the historical relationship of around 10,000 years between cats and humans. However, developmental psychologist Janet Werker points out that this does not imply that human babies are slower to learn.
The methodologies of the study with cats and previous tests with babies have significant differences. Moreover, the comparison with word learning in dogs is not direct, as those studies involve different approaches. The essential point, according to the researchers, is that cats seem to learn words without rewards or training, similar to how babies learn languages.
Source: Science | Photo: Freepik | This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team
