It is said that cats only hear when they feel like it and come to their master's calls only when there is something in their interest. Cat owners know that they often act like real divas. The behavior of cats is also carefully studied by scientists, who have gone so far as to observe whether cats understand human speech and whether they understand their names.
Two Japanese scientists, Atsuko Saito and Kazutaka Shinozuk, after "talking" with 78 cats, they concluded that most of them know their name, react when they hear it in a conversation and respond in different ways. The study was done on both owned and stray cats.
Do cats understand human speech and recognize their names?
The fact that the cat understands its name and responds when it hears it can also be confirmed by many cat owners. If we have 3 cats in a house, we will notice that each cat will "respond" when it hears its name. Moreover, the other cats know which of them was "called".
Cats also understand tonality very well. They understand when we imperatively shout at them to sit well or not to do something forbidden, they understand from the tonality when we call them to the table or encourage them. It is enough to use different tones for the cat's name so that it understands what we want to say to them.
Cats know when we talk about them with other family members, when we say their names in conversation. Studies by researchers have shown that about 50% of cats react when they hear their name in a conversation.
But it's not just the name that cats understand. They also understand other words, which they associate with well-defined actions and/or activities. For example, we know cats that when they hear the word "food" they know that soon the table will be set or it is possible that they will receive something to eat, reacting as such.
Thus, the conclusion is that cats understand human speech, reacting in different ways when they hear learned words or when they hear their names.
