This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Jim Daley.
这里是《科学美国人》的60秒科学。我是吉姆·戴利。
Almost any cat owner will testify to the felines’ apparent indifference to humans when we call their names. But according to a recent study, cats do recognize their names—or at least that we are indeed addressing them. It’s just that they still may not respond.
几乎所有铲屎官都能作证，人类呼唤猫咪的名字时，它们都显得漠不关心。然而根据一项近期的研究，猫咪们能认出自己的名字，或者说能感知到我们在叫它。只是高贵的猫星人根本不屑理会人类。
“I think cats associate sounds of their names with some rewards or punishments.”
“我认为猫把名字的发音和奖惩联系了起来。”
Atsuko Saito, a behavioral scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo.
东京上智大学(Sophia University)的行为学家斋藤慈子(Saito Atsuko)说道。
Saito previously demonstrated that cats recognize their owners’ voices. In the new work, she and colleagues investigated the reactions of cats to hearing humans say their names. The study included 78 cats from Japanese households and from a “cat café,” a business where patrons can interact with felines.
斋藤早前证明过猫能识别出主人的声音，在这项新研究中，她和同事调查了猫听到人类叫它们名字时的反应。研究的对象为 78 只来自日本家庭和猫咪咖啡馆的猫。
Saito and her colleagues had owners say four words that sounded similar to their cats’ names until the animals habituated to those words and stopped responding. Next, the owners said the felines’ actual names. And indeed, the cats had more pronounced responses—moving their ears, heads, tails or meowing—than they did to similar words or to other cats’ names. The study is in the journal Scientific Reports. [Atsuko Saito et al., Domestic cats (Felis catus) discriminate their names from other words]
斋藤和同事让铲屎官们说出四个听起来和猫的名字相似的词，直到猫习惯这些词并不再回应为止;接着，再请他们说出猫的名字。结果，猫听到自己的名字会有更明显的反应：动耳朵、头和尾巴，或者喵喵叫。这项研究发表于《科学报告》(Scientific Reports)。
The researchers also had people unfamiliar to the cats speak the names. Although the felines’ responses were less prominent than when their owners called them, they still appeared to recognize the words when spoken by strangers. But does that mean the cats know they are being called by name?
研究人员还让猫不熟悉的人说出它的名字，尽管猫咪的反应没有铲屎官叫它时那么明显，它们似乎还是能认出陌生人说出的这些词。但这是否就意味着猫知道它们的名字?
“There is no evidence that cats have the ability to recognize themselves, like us. So the recognition about their names is different from ours.” But Saito says she thinks we might be able to teach cats to recognize other words in addition to their names. “Our colleagues are investigating whether cats recognize other cohabiting cats’ names.”
“没有证据表明猫有能力像我们一样识别自己，所以它们对名字的认识和人类不同。”但斋藤说，她认为我们或许能教会猫识别除了名字之外的其他单词。“我们的同事正在调查猫是否能认出住在一起其他猫的名字。”
Could this knowledge mean that humans could eventually train cats to respond to voice commands, the way dogs do? Purr-haps.
这一发现是否意味着人类最终能够像训练狗一样训练猫对语音指令做出反应?也……许吧。
Thank you for listening! For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Jim Daley.
感谢收听《科学美国人》的60秒科学，吉姆·戴利报道。
This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Jim Daley.
Almost any cat owner will testify to the felines’ apparent indifference to humans when we call their names. But according to a recent study, cats do recognize their names—or at least that we are indeed addressing them. It’s just that they still may not respond.
“I think cats associate sounds of their names with some rewards or punishments.”
Atsuko Saito, a behavioral scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Saito previously demonstrated that cats recognize their owners’ voices. In the new work, she and colleagues investigated the reactions of cats to hearing humans say their names. The study included 78 cats from Japanese households and from a “cat café,” a business where patrons can interact with felines.
Saito and her colleagues had owners say four words that sounded similar to their cats’ names until the animals habituated to those words and stopped responding. Next, the owners said the felines’ actual names. And indeed, the cats had more pronounced responses—moving their ears, heads, tails or meowing—than they did to similar words or to other cats’ names. The study is in the journal Scientific Reports. [Atsuko Saito et al., Domestic cats (Felis catus) discriminate their names from other words]
The researchers also had people unfamiliar to the cats speak the names. Although the felines’ responses were less prominent than when their owners called them, they still appeared to recognize the words when spoken by strangers. But does that mean the cats know they are being called by name?
“There is no evidence that cats have the ability to recognize themselves, like us. So the recognition about their names is different from ours.” But Saito says she thinks we might be able to teach cats to recognize other words in addition to their names. “Our colleagues are investigating whether cats recognize other cohabiting cats’ names.”
Could this knowledge mean that humans could eventually train cats to respond to voice commands, the way dogs do? Purr-haps.
Thank you for listening! For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Jim Daley.
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