Japanese Researchers Teach Cats to Learn Words Like Infants
A study revealing that cats learn new words more than twice as fast as infants has become a hot topic.
On the 22nd (local time), the British daily newspaper The Telegraph reported on the results of a learning speed test conducted by researchers at Azabu University in Japan, targeting cats. The researchers used about thirty cats as samples and taught them picture-word pairs. As a result, most cats learned the words 9 seconds faster on average than human infants.
The researchers first showed the cats pictures and repeatedly played specific words paired with those pictures to help them memorize the picture-word pairs. After the learning phase, the cats were shown the pictures again, but this time incorrect words were played to observe their reactions.
The cats stared at the pictures about three times longer on average when hearing mismatched words. In other words, even if they did not understand the meaning of the words, they recognized that something was wrong.
The researchers noted that most cats showed this reaction after learning the picture-word pairs for a total of 9 seconds over 4 sessions, evaluating this as a much faster learning speed than human infants. Human infants reportedly need to learn for a total of 20 seconds over 4 sessions to acquire the picture-word pairs.
The researchers stated, "Our study reveals that cats can associate picture-word pairs with less exposure time (compared to infants)," adding, "It is not yet clear why cats can associate (picture-word pairs) so quickly." However, it was reported that cats did not learn when the words for the pictures were spoken in electronic sounds rather than a human voice. Based on this, the researchers speculated, "There is an element in which cats feel attachment to the human voice." This study was published in the international academic journal Scientific Reports.
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