Cat Owners Pwned

Trip · 07-14-2009, 09:59 AM

Pretty self explanatory, you knew you guys were the pets in the relationship.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...mansstudyfinds

Quote:

If you've ever wondered who's in control, you or your cat, a new study points to the obvious. It's your cat.

Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings.

This meow is actually a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry. While people usually think of cat purring as a sign of happiness, some cats make this purr-cry sound when they want to be fed. The study showed that humans find these mixed calls annoying and difficult to ignore.

"The embedding of a cry within a call that we normally associate with contentment is quite a subtle means of eliciting a response," said Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. "Solicitation purring is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which is likely to get cats ejected from the bedroom."

They know us

Previous research has shown similarities between cat cries and human infant cries.

McComb suggests that the purr-cry may subtly take advantage of humans' sensitivity to cries they associate with nurturing offspring. Also, including the cry within the purr could make the sound "less harmonic and thus more difficult to habituate to," she said.

McComb got the idea for the study from her experience with her own cat, who would consistently wake her up in the mornings with a very insistent purr. After speaking with other cat owners, she learned that some of their cats also made the same type of call. As a scientist who studies vocal communication in mammals, she decided to investigate the manipulative meow.

Tough to test

Setting up the experiments wasn't easy. While the felines used purr-cries around their familiar owners, they were not eager to make the same cries in front of strangers. So McComb and her team trained cat owners to record their pets' cries - capturing the sounds made by cats when they were seeking food and when they were not. In all, the team collected recordings from 10 different cats.

The researchers then played the cries back for 50 human participants, not all of whom owned cats. They found that humans, even if they had never had a cat themselves, judged the purrs recorded while cats were actively seeking food - the purrs with an embedded, high-pitched cry - as more urgent and less pleasant than those made in other contexts.

When the team re-synthesised the recorded purrs to remove the embedded cry, leaving all else unchanged, the human subjects' urgency ratings for those calls decreased significantly.

McComb said she thinks this cry occurs at a low level in cats' normal purring, "but we think that cats learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans." In fact, not all cats use this form of purring at all, she said, noting that it seems to most often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners rather than those living in large households, where their purrs might be overlooked.

The results were published in the July 14 issue of the journal Current Biology

Particle Man · 07-14-2009, 10:04 AM

and they were surprised by this why?

Everyone knows that cats don't have owners, they have attendants...

AquaPython · 07-14-2009, 10:07 AM

dammit i was going to post this exact same thread with similar / same title last night when i saw this story. i kept the page up so i could do it this morning.

Tmall · 07-14-2009, 10:09 AM

And to think, all my dog does is walk up to me, then to his food dish when its empty..

Dave · 07-14-2009, 10:42 AM

i have a feeling most cat owners fail at establishing dominance. both of mine know that if they screw up they'll find themselves on their back with their throat in my jaws

marko138 · 07-14-2009, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave

i have a feeling most cat owners fail at establishing dominance. both of mine know that if they screw up they'll find themselves on their back with their throat in my jaws

That sounds gross.

tommymac · 07-14-2009, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko138

That sounds gross.

or kinky

Tom

Dave · 07-14-2009, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko138

That sounds gross.

nah. they get baths

the chi · 07-14-2009, 10:49 AM

Tsk. I already posted this link yesterday. Sheesh admin.

I'll admit it, my new kitten pulls this shit. Thankfully she is ALLLLLLL daddys cat. Friggin demon spawn...

AquaPython · 07-14-2009, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave

nah. they get baths

and you get a mouth full of neck hair. who owns who ?

07-14-2009, 10:04 AM	#2
Particle Man Custom User Title Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Central NY Moto: 2003 SV650S Posts: 14,959	and they were surprised by this why? Everyone knows that cats don't have owners, they have attendants... __________________ I'm not "fat." I'm "Enlarged to show texture." Handle every stressful situation like a DOG: If you can't eat it or hump it, pi$$ on it & walk away.

07-14-2009, 10:42 AM	#5
Dave Chaotic Neutral Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Cherry Hill NJ Moto: GV1200 Madura, Hawk gt Posts: 13,992	i have a feeling most cat owners fail at establishing dominance. both of mine know that if they screw up they'll find themselves on their back with their throat in my jaws __________________ TWF Post whore #6

07-14-2009, 10:09 AM	#4
Tmall Aspiring Rapper Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Halifax, NS Moto: '12 CB1000R Posts: 3,569	And to think, all my dog does is walk up to me, then to his food dish when its empty..