An Emotionally Intelligent Cat
This is a picture of Kid checking himself out in the mirror while I brush my teeth before turning in for the night.
Do you ever wake up, heart pounding, pulse racing, trying to tell yourself it was only a dream, and notice your cat has hijacked your pillow like he’s going somewhere? Worse, the fluffy guy, looking unrepentant, yawns as if to say, when will you get your act together, lady? Can’t you sleep through the night like I do? Does it have to be a war with the pillows every night?
Dealing with anxiety can be brutal. Throw in obsessive-compulsive disorder for a double whammy, and it’s easy to drive yourself crazy, but Thank God for the cat!
Through good times and bad, and lately, through illnesses that I can’t seem to shake, my cat, Kid, keeps me company when few others want to. He’s Velcro, attaching himself to me no matter the situation and following me around the house and in the yard. He’s indoors before dark without my asking, tailing me to the bedroom for a good snooze fest. I swear my cat gets me. I’m sure many of you feel this way. Maybe you feel a connection with dogs.
I do no doubt that my furry guy is bright and senses my feelings, but I was curious to see what the research findings said. Just how perceptive are our fuzzy felines? We already know they are intelligent.
Are Cats Emotionally Intelligent?
In short, emotional intelligence is the ability to control one's own emotions and interpret others’ emotions.
While cats don’t appear to sympathize, much less empathize with their owners, for example, my cat, Kid, a pillow thief who couldn’t let his mom get a good night’s rest- they are perceptive. My fuzzy guy has stuck by my side through all the rough nights. It’s more than reaching out to pet him to relax.
Research on the internet is limited to whether cats possess emotional intelligence and, if so, how much. Every other article on the internet appears to cite the results of a study published in 2020. In the article “Cats Emotion Recognition,” cats were found to “match” their human owners' feelings and, more importantly, react. The drawback to this study is that it involved ten cats. It also appears that every other article on emotional intelligence in cats circled back to this one article, citing it.
How do cats match their owner’s feelings, and how do they react?
In the study, cats used visible and sound-specific signals to match human feelings and react. In other words, the cats saw a picture of their owner smiling and looking happy on the screen, and they matched it with a happy look of their own. “When you smile, the whole world smiles at you…” I can picture it.
What did the study look like?
Researchers observed the cats and measured their reactions. Suppose you’re wondering how like I was. All of the felines sat in their owners’ laps. The owners were instructed not to interact with the cat. I don’t know if I could have done it. How can you not interact with your fuzzy buddy?
The cats learned a cue to focus on the projector screen beforehand. Then, researchers showed the furry guys and gals a PowerPoint with two distinct photographs (one happy and one angry shot)of their owners. Brownian noise floated from speakers in the background to establish a neutral and more natural environment.
My understanding of Brownian noise is that it is similar to white noise but has a deeper bass.
I don’t know how the participants in the study did it. I can imagine Kid looking at me adoringly in the middle of the study, thinking, “Hey, mommy. How about a chin rub?”
The cats and their owners were also recorded. The results showed that some cats hissed in response to their owner’s angry-face photo, and some purred at the happy-face on the PowerPoint. Why were the results mixed? Why didn’t they all purr? Not all purrs are the same. Cats purr when they’re hungry and in pain.
My take on the study:
We need a course in Cat language. An app for our cell phone called Cat Speak would help. Students could take it as an elective language course in high school before college.
What does a hungry cat’s purr sound like? Should I roll the r at the end? You get where I’m coming from.
Little research exists concerning emotional recognition in cats. Every other author online appears to refer to and cite this research article.
The researchers do admit that they need to study more cats. Ten isn’t enough to prove that cats are discerning of human emotions.
CNN-It’s not what you think.
I searched for other articles on emotional intelligence in cats and discovered convolutional neural networking, aka CNN (not the news channel). What is it, and what does it have to do with cats?
The IBM website states, “Convolutional neural networks use three-dimensional data for image classification and object recognition tasks.”
Convolutional Neural Network examines cats’ expressions to understand the underlying meaning or language behind each expression. My understanding of CNN is that feline expressions (however many there are) are indexed and comprise a database similar to WebMD’s symptom checker. Instead of adding your symptoms to reach a diagnosis, you can view the meaning of expressions if you choose. However, CNN is relatively new and is far from complete.
Veering off-topic, CNN may someday be used or incorporated into an algorithm like Amazon, making suggestions. Please search for your cat’s facial expressions and find out their feelings. Is this the face of a loving cat or a thief? What about the occasional bird killer? Is he hunting for hunger, or has it become a sport? What would be the perfect bed for him other than my pillow? Bring in Amazon, and they could offer a choice- we think your cat might like this- based on his looks.
While the jury is still out on whether cats possess emotional solid intelligence, I’m convinced they do. In the meantime, I’ll make sure not to upset my cat. I’ll give him a good chin rub before bed, and he’ll have to settle for my pillow instead of a luxury bed designed exclusively for him.
Next, Biometrics recognizes the feline’s face. Headlines: Cat hacks owner's bank account, making extravagant purchases on owner's cell phone.
In the meantime, watch your phone and use lengthy passwords that will take a century for a hacker to find out. Even though I suspect some felines are much brighter!
Is your cat a wise guy or a girl? Please let me know what you think in the comments below.
References
IBM (n.d.). What are convolutional neural networks? Retrieved April 30, 2024, from https://www.ibm.com/topics/convolutional-neural-networks
Jain, P., KUMAR PANDEY, A., & YADAV, B. (2023). Facial Emotion Recognition of Cat Breeds by Using Convolution Neural Network. Iconic Research and Engineering Journal, 7(6), 59-63. https://doi.org/1705255
Quaranta, A., d'Ingeo, S., Amoruso, R., & Siniscalchi, M. (2020). Emotion Recognition in Cats. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 10(7), 1107. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10071107