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Greeting Vocalizations in Domestic Cats Are More Frequent with Male Caregivers

78 points by JumpCrisscross

by observationist

4 subcomments

I can't wait for all the research papers from the "They Can Talk" talking buttons studies. Absolutely fascinating stuff coming out - pets apparently learn to understand not only simple words, but complex constructions and grammar, when sufficiently modeled by their people. They even chain together words in meaningful ways to augment their vocabulary and communicate complex ideas.
Simple vocalizations are cool, but that's pretty limited communication, and if they're capable of so much more, it's pretty likely that they're using individual meows in much the same way a human would under the same constraints. Imagine only being able to say "HEY!" and having to use context and body language in every situation.
TheyCanTalk have got n>10k animals so far, mostly cats and dogs, with a handful of pigs, rabbits, goats, and others. I've seen a few horses, cows, and others on social media, too, and they've got a lot more customers than study participants.

by SecondHandTofu

4 subcomments

22 behavioral measures looking for one that is <0.05?
Unless they pre-registered that prediction, isn't this just the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy?

by ddoolin

1 subcomments

Anecdotally, my cats meow at me a lot. But they're my cats (others live in the house and help care for them). I also meow back more than anyone else. In fact, I might be the only one to do so. :)

by abetusk

2 subcomments

N=31
> We acknowledge that our sample size limits the generalizability of our findings on cat greeting behaviors.

by foxyv

0 subcomment

This makes me wonder if we could invent a constructed language that can be used by both cats and people. If people learned how to speak such a language, could they teach some of the basic vocabulary to cats too? I imagine it would be a pretty weird phonetic scheme. Cats have a ton of cool sounds they can make because they use them to lure in prey.

by leoc

0 subcomment

by fat_cantor

1 subcomments

A lazy error [0] in the abstract suggests that the paper may have been written by a domestic cat (Felis catus). Given that male experimenters tend to stress out mice [1], it is plausible that the opposite effect occurs in cats. Mostly, it would be fun to know whether cat greetings reflect different motivational or emotional states, since reasonable people might believe that they don't.
[0] "We also tested whether demographic factors such as the influenced the amount of greeting behavior expressed by household cats."
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2014.15106

by gradus_ad

4 subcomments

Or maybe they're more excited to see the male caregivers? Or maybe the male caregivers are louder themselves so they copy them? Or maybe...

by tim333

0 subcomment

That was probably true with our cat. It was very 'talkative' when I came home. It also definitely distinguished between men and women, prefering to sit on the lap of women, preferably old ones.

by lawlessone

2 subcomments

>it is therefore possible that male caregivers require more explicit vocalizations to notice and respond to the needs of their cats, which in turn reinforces cats' tendency to use more directed and frequent vocal behavior to attract their attention.
This is very funny. Ig Noble prize stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ig_Nobel_Prize

by jacquesm

1 subcomments

What the cats really are saying is 'unshaved human alert, unshaved human alert'.

by blindriver

0 subcomment

by casey2

0 subcomment

by ChrisArchitect

0 subcomment

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46132439
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46077728