Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Can cats understand logic?

Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

Better than great apes, some say.

From Marianne Freiberger at PlusMaths:

It’s a question that has recently received a partial answer in a (refreshingly simple) experiment conducted by scientists in Japan. The study showed that cats know what it means when a container rattles when shaken, and that they expect something to fall out when the container is turned over. This may not appear hugely impressive, but our relatives, the great apes, have failed similar tests. Cats themselves haven’t fared well in other tasks testing their causal understanding (for example tests involving the pulling of strings) and were therefore thought a little unsophisticated in that respect. The new study appears to vindicate them.More.

The cat is not in fact abstracting anything; he is learning from experience. Odd that apes aren’t much better.

See also: Nonsense watch: Cats don’t grasp laws of physics

Are apes entering the Stone Age?

and

Furry, feathery, and finny animals speak their minds

Follow UD News at Twitter!

Comments
The cat has memorized details. thats the word. Thats the action in the brain. Cats are dumb as I'm around them a lot.Robert Byers
June 26, 2016
June
06
Jun
26
26
2016
10:30 PM
10
10
30
PM
PDT

Leave a Reply