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 ...
Yeah, but cucumbers scare the crap out of them.
Yeah, but cucumbers scare the crap out of them.
That’s cats and physicists.
Katz are the sueprior life form on Rock Three.
Anyone knows that, even the ancient Egyptians knew that,
we don’t need physicists burning up
(probably) taxppayer money to tell us the obvious.
Katx are far smarter than dogs
and dogs are far smarter than fish
and fish are far smarter than snails
and turd flies are far smarter than DNC
Cats understand the major law of physics...
Always know where the earth is!
We tried that with our cat. He was not the least bit interested or disturbed.
they have 9 lives., too
the damned AMA quacks should better use our taxpayer money to discover how to give us 9 lives
instead of taking our money to tell us that bullets poke holes in their targets (see previous thread this afternoon )
What a stupid bit of research.......cats hear the noise and hence anticipate something Intersting. Food fun that kind of thing
My cat yawns at cucumbers and then looks at me like I’m an idiot.
My cat yawns and looks at me like I’m an idiot about 85% of the time that we “interact”. The other 15% he is waiting to be served or doted on.
Yes, and we’d like to talk to you about that little matter of Schrödinger’s cat.
Umbrellas too... point one in their direction and open it, then see how high they can jump :D
So cats are smarter than democrats
Awwww, and it’s such a nice redeeming graphic after all those cuke-jumpin’ vids on YT...
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