A very interesting study shows that cats remember via action and not by observation. But their memories are short - about 10 minutes - when they do process via action.The experimenters had cats step over an object with their front legs, then prevented them from stepping over it with their hind legs. For about 10 minutes, they'd remember the object was there and lift their hind legs to clear it, even when the object was moved.
When they simply showed cats an object but not have them physically move around it, their memories didn't register the object at all. They continued as if it was never there.
There's been similar research with horses and dogs, and early results show the same behavior.
And what about us humans? Well, before a cup of coffee, I don't remember anything past 30 seconds, so 10 minutes seems pretty good....
4 comments:
Cats probably have memories that go well beyond the 10 minute mark. I was a long time bird fancier and had three birds in my apartment on a day when I decided to leave and go somewhere in my car. Without me knowing it a neighbor's cat slipped into my apartment when I opened the door and while I was away managed to kill and swallow one bird, injure another and severely tramatize the third. When I returned to my apartment the cat ran from the apartment as if shot out of a cannon and then hid itself under a porch across the street. This behavior seemed odd to me until I discovered what it had done...that it was demonstrating a recognition of guilt and apparently an expectation of punishment which it no doubt deserved!
So for those who think only man is equipped with a conscience and the associated ability to sin, think again! And since much more than ten minutes must have elapsed between the time this bird killing took place and the time the cat ran away with a guilt complex, I'd say for sure that a cat can remember (what it's done) for an appreciable amount of time!
It's interesting that scientists have put together an environment that shows a cat's attention span limited to 10 minutes. I'm with you, as a pet owner, that I see much more ability for a cat to stay focused when they're in the full spectrum of life.
Please accept my condolences on the death and injury of your beloved birds. It's what gives cats a bad name within a community, especially if the cat is able to be outdoors to follow their natural instinct to hunt both domestic and wild birds.
As far as guilt, I've never noticed that in any of my cats but I can always hope. :)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I believe cats' memories go much further back than that. In fact I'm sure since my cat is the reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte - he's got such an attitude, swangers around my place thinking he owns it. He even has his own blog.
Well put!
In fact, maybe all cats descend from memorable figures of the past. Minnie would have had to have been a ruling queen, and Doodah a princess in prior lives...
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