WOW! MUCH SMART! New Research Shows Cats And Doggos Are Equally Smart
The world is divided into ‘dog people’ and ‘cat people’, each passionately believing that their preferred pet is superior. So when it comes to science, who takes the treat?
Despite previous evidence showing that only canines can ace memory tests, recent findings show that cats are equally as smart, just less desperate to impress their human masters. Finally, we can all just hug it out and get along:
Finally!
It’s been known for some time that dogs can recollect specific non-immediate events, an ability known as ‘episodic memory‘. However, it was debated that cats didn’t have the same or similar mental capacity.
According to new research out of Japan (because where else), cats can recall “what” and “where” information, suggesting they too have an episodic memory. The study examined 49 domestic cats and put the felines through tests that were able to prove they could remember things like which bowl they had already eaten from and which food remained untouched. This was done at various length intervals up to 15-minutes. The scientists also believe that the animals were capable of storing the information for much longer periods of time.
The tests also showed that cats, like dogs are capable of responding to human gestures like reading facial expressions and interpreting emotions.
Whoooo’s a happy cay?
Saho Takagi, a psychologist at Kyoto University, told the BBC:
“An interesting speculation is that they may enjoy actively recalling memories of their experience like humans,”
“Episodic memory is viewed as being related to introspective function of the mind.
“Our study may imply a type of consciousness in cats.”
Previous studies have looked at the ratio of brain to body size between the animals, showing that dogs have the larger brain having evolved from their social nature. However, cats have almost twice as many neurones in their cerebral cortex, the area involved in memory, attention and perception. So when it comes down it, it’s pretty safe to say that neither are smarter – they’re just different.
