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Posted on 06/14/2016 2:05:53 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Previous work conducted by the Japanese team established that cats predict the presence of invisible objects based on what they hear. In the present study, the researchers wanted to find out if cats use a causal rule to infer if a container holds an object, based on whether it is shaken along with a sound or not. The team also wanted to establish if cats expect an object to fall out or not, once the container is turned over.
Thirty domestic cats were videotaped while an experimenter shook a container. In some cases this action went along with a rattling sound. In others it did not, to simulate that the vessel was empty. After the shaking phase, the container was turned over, either with an object dropping down or not.
Two experimental conditions were congruent with physical laws, where shaking was accompanied by a (no) sound and an (no) object to fall out of the container. The other two conditions were incongruent to the laws of physics. Either a rattling sound was followed by no object dropping out of the container or no sound while shaking led to a falling object.
The cats looked longer at the containers which were shaken together with a noise. This suggests that cats used a physical law to infer the existence (or absence) of objects based on whether they heard a rattle (or not). This helped them predict whether an object would appear (or not) once the container was overturned.
The animals also stared longer at containers in incongruent conditions, meaning an object dropped despite its having been shaken noiselessly or the other way around. It is as if the cats realized that such conditions did not fit into their grasp of causal logic.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Awesome expression on his face - if looks could kill....
True, but cats still rule!!
Nice how the cat, after having the crap scared out of him and leaping, positioned himself mid leap to confront the evil cucumber in case he needed to protect himself or attack.
Ha ha!! love when my cat does that.
...smartycat ping....
Simon's cat is the Physics Chaos theory come alive. LOL
PING this one over to Slings And Arrows.
My cat was subjected to the same test, well sort of, and merely kept sleeping in her little bed............
She's the only cat that I've ever experienced that doesn't know how to play with her toys in my presence.
I'll come home from somewhere to find that she had played with her two unsqueeky toys but she won't do so when I'm around..........weird.
.....but they freak out with a mirror.....????... hey wait a minute
so do humans
I rubbed Boo-Boo down with powdered garlic before she ran
outside this afternoon. She tries to avoid it; but is OK
with it after it’s over.
Cats interpret the cucumber as a snake and react accordingly.........
Yes, not terribly earthshaking “research”. It’s like saying “Cats understand law of thermodynamics and rapid oxidative reactions, because they don’t leap into the flames in your fireplace.”
But We still need the answer to:
Cats always land on their feet.
Buttered bread always lands butter side down.
So what is the landed orientation of a cat with a slice of buttered bread strapped on it’s back ?
a perpetual motion machine - thought everyone knew that...
Everything living is smarter than democrpas, except nematodes.
Yay! I needed some cat time-out. Thanks, Ben.
AAAHHH the old spin till it pukes cat;)
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