来源：《新科学家》
原文刊登日期：2021年11月10日
本文适合2023考生
Domestic cats can mentally map their owner’s location simply from the sound of their voice. Previous studies of cats have revealed they are able to track objects that move out of sight – showcasing a level of what is known as “object permanence”, the recognition that an object continues to exist even if it can no longer be seen. But few studies have tested how cats use their other senses to track objects and individuals.
家猫只需要听主人的嗓音，就能在脑海里标出主人的位置。之前对猫的研究表明，它们能够跟踪视线之外的物体——这展示了一种被称为“物体恒存性”的水平，即即使看不见一个物体，也能识别出它继续存在。但很少有研究测试过猫是如何利用其他感官追踪物体和个人的。
Saho Takagi at Kyoto University in Japan and her colleagues put cats’ hearing to the test by investigating how they responded to their owner’s voice.
日本京都大学的高木佐保和她的同事们对猫的听力进行了测试，研究它们对主人嗓音的反应。
To do so, they studied 50 domestic cats – 27 of which live at “cat cafes” where people can pay to watch and play with cats, while the remaining 23 were house cats.
为此，研究人员对50只家猫进行了研究，其中27只生活在“猫咖”，人们可以付费观看猫咪并与之玩耍，其余23只是家养的猫。
The team placed each cat alone in a test room with two doors and a window. They placed a speaker outside the room near one door and a second speaker outside near the second door or the window. The two speakers were at least 4 metres apart. To observe the cats, the team set up five video cameras in the room.
研究团队将每只猫单独放在一个有两扇门和一扇窗户的测试室里。他们把一个扬声器放在房间外靠近一扇门的地方，另一个扬声器放在房间外靠近第二扇门或窗户的地方。两个扬声器之间至少有4米的距离。为了观察这些猫，研究小组在房间里安装了5台摄像机。
During each test, the researchers used the speakers to play recordings of the cat’s owner – whether a cafe owner or a member of the household – or a stranger calling the cat’s name. The voice was played twice, 2.5 seconds apart, and could come from either the same speaker both times or once from each speaker. Eight people then evaluated each cat’s response by carefully analysing the video footage.
在每次测试中，研究人员使用扬声器播放猫的主人(咖啡馆老板或者说家庭成员)或陌生人叫猫名字的录音。这个声音被播放两次，间隔2.5秒，可以来自同一个扬声器两次，也可以来自每个扬声器各播放一次。然后8个人通过仔细分析视频片段来评估每只猫的反应。
The results suggest that cats show little surprise – indicated by moving their ears or changing head direction – when their owner’s voice was played twice from the same speaker, or when the stranger’s voice was played either twice from the same speaker or once from each speaker.
研究结果表明，当同一个扬声器播放它们主人的声音两次，或者同一个扬声器播放陌生人的声音两次，或者每个扬声器各播放陌生人的声音一次时，猫不会表现出什么惊讶（通过移动耳朵或改变头部方向表现出来）。
But if the familiar voice of the cat’s owner was played from first one and then the second speaker 4 metres away just a few seconds later, the cats did show signs of surprise.
但如果第一个扬声器播放猫主人熟悉的声音，然后几秒钟后在4米外的第二个扬声器再次播放，猫确实表现出惊讶的迹象。
The authors suggest that cats can mentally track their owner’s location using their voice, and thus exhibit surprise when their owners suddenly seem to “teleport” to a new place. The results indicate a previously unknown socio-spatial awareness in cats. “Cats may have a mind that is more profound than we think,” says Takagi.
作者认为，猫可以通过嗓音在脑海中追踪主人的位置，因此当它们的主人突然似乎“瞬移”到一个新地方时，它们会表现出惊讶。结果表明，猫有一种以前未知的社会空间意识。高木佐保说：“猫的思维可能比我们想象的更玄奥。”
Angelo Quaranta at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy, says: “The understanding of cats’ socio-cognitive abilities to perceive their emotions is crucial for improving the quality of human-cat and cat-cat relationships, as well as cat welfare in the domestic environment.”
意大利巴里·阿尔多·莫罗大学的安吉洛·夸兰塔说：“了解猫的社会认知能力来感知它们的情感，对于提高人猫和猫猫关系的质量，以及家养环境中的猫的幸福，都是至关重要的。”