Dogs are man’s best friend, but cats? Gods? Those of us who have lived with these cats know that sometimes their behaviour is distant: they are very independent and sometimes even leave the house. There are many myths and realities surrounding this behaviour. The truth is that the most recent National Study on Well-being (ENBIARE) estimates that there are around 16 million domestic cats in Mexico.
Over the years, technologies have been developed that have improved existing products, and now we have professional cameras in our pockets. The same goes for discoveries about animals, so we have a better understanding of their behaviour, health and signals. We now have a new study that confirms that communication between humans and cats is possible.
How humans and cats can communicate
The study, conducted by psychologists at the Universities of Portsmouth and Sussex, is entitled The role of cat eye-rolling movements in cat-human communication and is published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. The most basic and interesting way in which domestic cats communicate is by blinking.
The research was based on two experiments that analysed how cats react to the slow blinking of humans by setting up cameras throughout the house. In the first experiment, 21 cats from 14 different households were slowly flashed by their owners. This meant that they first had to make sure that the cats were completely comfortable. When this happened, the humans sat down one metre away and blinked slowly while their pet watched them.
The results, which were compared to the blinking of cats in a normal state, showed that cats are more likely to blink slowly at their humans after humans have done the same, compared to a context with no special interaction.
The second experiment involved 24 cats from eight different households. The big difference was that in this case the owners were not present, but the researchers interacted in the same way. The controls recorded how the cats reacted to the condition when people looked at them without blinking.
In this second group, the subjects blinked slowly at a distance of one metre and held out their hand to the cats. They found that the cats were not only more likely to blink back, but also more likely to approach the human after blinking.
The “big but” of this study is to find out the exact reason why cats blink at the same time as humans, or mimic them. The researchers interpreted this as a sign of relaxation and friendly communication, as other studies have shown that cats interpret a fixed, continuous signal as a threat, similar to what happens when dogs look up at a person and prepare for a possible attack by a stranger.
“As to why cats behave this way, it could be argued that cats have developed slow blinking because humans perceived slow blinking as a positive thing. Perhaps cats have learnt that humans reward them for responding to slow blinking. It is also possible that slow blinking evolved as a way for cats to break the incessant staring that can be threatening during social interactions.
Dr Tasmin Humphrey, animal behaviour scientist at the University of Sussex
The researchers also suggested that understanding the positive ways in which cats and humans interact can improve public understanding of cats, increase their welfare and reveal more about the socio-cognitive abilities of the species. Furthermore, they suggested that the results could be used to assess the welfare of cats in a variety of settings, including veterinary practices and even shelters.
