Animals & nature · 1992
Can cats find an object hidden out of sight while they walk around a barrier?
Yes—in an experiment with 19 cats, the cats successfully found an object hidden while a barrier blocked their view. The authors described their performance as flexible, unlike findings from earlier research, but the result applies to this particular task.
Details
The cats first watched an object through a transparent panel. To reach it, they had to walk around an opaque barrier. While their view was blocked, the object was hidden behind one of the screens, so they could not see where it disappeared.
The cats solved the task, which the authors interpreted as requiring them to anticipate the object's new position. This differs from typical earlier tasks that required cats to work backward from information they had already seen. That difference matters: success here does not establish that cats can solve every kind of problem involving an unseen object. The abstract reports flexible performance but gives no success rate or detailed account of individual differences.
What do you think?
Good conversations begin with curiosity.
You can read comments without an account. Sign in to write.
Loading comments…