Cat intelligence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Up-close picture of a female tabby

Cat intelligence is the capacity of the domesticated cat to solve problems and adapt to its environment. Researchers have also shown feline intelligence to include the ability to acquire new behavior that applies previously learned knowledge to new situations, communicating needs and desires within a social group, and responding to training cues.

The brain of a cat[edit]

Brain size[edit]

The brain of the domesticated cat is about five centimetres (2.0 in) long, and weighs 25–30 g (0.88–1.06 oz).[1][2] If a typical cat is taken to be 60 cm (24 in) long with a weight of 3.3 kg (7.3 lb), then the brain would be at 0.91%[3] of its total body mass, compared to 2.33%[3] of total body mass in the average human. Within the encephalization quotient proposed by Jerison in 1973,[3][4] values above 1 are classified big brained, while values lower than 1 are small brained.[5] The domestic cat is attributed a value of between 1–1.71 relative to human value that is 7.44–7.8.[1][3] The largest brains in the Felidae family are those of the tigers in Java and Bali, of which the largest relative brain size within the panthera is the tigris.[6] It is debated whether there exists a causal relationship between brain size and intelligence in vertebrates. Correlations have been shown between these factors in a number[quantify] of experiments.[which?] However, correlation does not imply causation. Most experiments involving the relevance of brain size to intelligence hinge on the assumption that complex behavior requires a complex (and therefore intelligent) brain; however, this connection has not been consistently demonstrated.[7][8][9][10][11]

The surface area of a cat's cerebral cortex is approximately 83 cm2 (13 in2) whereas the human brain has a surface area of about 2,500 cm2 (390 in2).[12] Furthermore, a theoretical cat weighing 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) has a cerebellum weighing 5.3 g (0.19 oz), 0.17% of the total weight.[13]

Brain structures[edit]

A cat's brain

According to researchers at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the physical structure of the brains of humans and cats is very similar.[14] The human brain and the cat brain both have cerebral cortices[15] with similar lobes.[16]

The number of cortical neurons contained in the brain of the cat is reported to be 763 million.[17] Area 17[18] of the visual cortex was found to contain about 51,400 neurons per mm3.[19][20] Area 17 is the primary visual cortex.[21]

Both human and feline brains are gyrencephalic, i.e. they have a surface folding.[22][23]

Analyses of cat brains have shown they are divided into many areas with specialized tasks that are extremely interconnected and share sensory information in a kind of hub-and-spoke network, with a large number of specialized hubs and many alternative paths between them. This exchange of sensory information allows the brain to construct a complex perception of the real world and to react to and manipulate its environment.[24]

The thalamus of the cat[25][26] includes a hypothalamus,[27] an epithalamus, a lateral geniculate nucleus,[28] and additional secondary nuclear structures.

Secondary brain structures[edit]

The domestic cat brain also contains the hippocampus,[29] amygdala,[30] frontal lobes (which comprise 3 to 3.5% of the total brain in cats compared to about 25% in humans),[31][32] corpus callosum,[33][34] anterior commissure,[35] pineal gland,[36] caudate nucleus, septal nuclei and midbrain.[37]

Neuroplasticity[edit]

Grouse et al. 1979 ascertained the neuroplasticity of kittens' brains, with respect to control of visual stimulus correlated with changes in RNA structures.[38] In a later study, it was found that cats possess visual-recognition memory,[39][40] and have flexibility of cerebral encoding from visual information.[41]

Brain and diet[edit]

A cognitive support diet for felines is a food that is formulated to improve mental processes like attention, short and long-term memory, learning, and problem solving. Claims for cognitive support appear on a number of kitten formulations to help with brain development, as well as diets aimed at seniors to help prevent cognitive disorders. These diets typically focus on supplying Omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, taurine, vitamins, and other supporting supplements that have positive effects on cognition.

The omega-3 fatty acids are a key nutrient in cognition for felines. They are essential for felines as they cannot be synthesized naturally and must be obtained from the diet.[42] Omega-3 fatty acids that support brain development and function are alpha-linolenic acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).[42] Fish oils, fish and other marine sources provide a very rich source of DHA and EPA.[42] Alpha-linolenic acid can be acquired from oils and seeds.[42]

Omega-6 fatty acids are also needed in feline cognition diets. The important omega-6 fatty acid that plays a role in brain support and cognition is arachidonic acid.[43] Arachidonic acid or AA is found in animal sources such as meat and eggs.[43] AA is required in cat diets, as felines convert insignificant amounts of it from linoleic acid due to the limited delta-6 desaturase.[44] Like DHA, arachidonic acid is often found in the brain tissues of cats and seems to have a supporting role in brain function.[43] In a 2000 study completed by Contreras et al., it was found that DHA and AA made up 20% of the fatty acids in the mammalian brain.[45] Arachidonic acid makes up high amounts in the membrane of most cells and has many pro-inflammatory actions.[44]

Taurine is an amino acid, which is essential in cat diets due to their low capacity to synthesize it. Because taurine has the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier in the brain, it has been found to have a role in many neurological functions, especially in the visual development.[46] Without taurine, felines can have an abnormal morphology in the cerebellum and visual cortex.[46] When cats were fed a diet deficient in taurine, this leads to a decrease in the concentration of taurine in the retina of the eye. This results in deterioration of the photoreceptors, followed by complete blindness.[47]

Choline is a water-soluble nutrient that prevents and improves epilepsy and cognitive disorders.[48] Supplementation is part of therapy for cats with seizures and Feline cognitive dysfunction, despite this treatment being mostly based on anecdotal evidence and research done on dogs.[49] It is the precursor to nerve chemicals like dopamine and acetylcholine, making it important for proper functioning of the nervous system.[48]

Intelligence[edit]

Intelligence through behavioural observation is defined as a composite of skills and abilities.[50] The WAIS test is a measure of intelligence in adult homo sapiens. The test scores on four criteria: verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory and processing speed.[51][52] In a comparative evaluation from WAIS criteria, cats are generally fair in intelligence.[citation needed]

In controlled experiments, cats showed that they had fully developed concepts of object permanence, meaning that sensorimotor intelligence is completely developed in cats. For human infants, tests involving multiple invisible displacements of an object are used to assess the beginning of mental representation in the sixth and last stage of sensorimotor intelligence. The cats' searches on these tasks were consistent with representation of an unsensed object and fully developed sensorimotor intelligence.[53][54] The working memory for object permanence of the domesticated cat is surmised from experiment as being of 16 hours.[55]

More negative results were obtained in an experiment conducted in 2009 where cats could pull on a string to retrieve a treat under a plastic screen. When presented with one string, cats had no trouble getting the treats, but when presented with multiple strings, some of which were not connected to treats, the cats were unable to consistently choose the correct strings, leading to the conclusion that cats do not understand cause and effect in the same way that humans do.[56][57]

Cats have complex dreams while sleeping, retaining and recalling long sequences of events while they are asleep, as many other animals do.[58][59] A dreaming cat will usually have rapid, uncontrolled facial, whisker, paw, and abdominal movements. Occasionally cats have violent nightmares with muffled screams and may suddenly wake up screaming from the nightmare.[citation needed]

Memory[edit]

Taken as a whole, cats have excellent memories.[60] In experimental conditions, the memory of a cat was demonstrated as having an information-retention or recall, of a duration totalling as much as 10 years.[61] However, relationships with humans, individual differences in intelligence, and age may all affect memory. Cats easily adapt to their current environment because they can adapt their memories of past environments throughout their lives.[62][63]

In kittens[edit]

The period during which the cat is a kitten is the time when the cat learns and memorizes survival skills, which are acquired through observation of their mothers and playing with other cats. Playing, in fact, constitutes more than fun for a kitten, for it is essential for ranking social order, building hunting skills, and generally exercising for the adult roles.

The first two to seven weeks are a particularly critical time for kittens, for it is during this period that they bond with other cats. It has been suspected that without any human contact during this time, the cat would forever mistrust humans.[62]

In older cats[edit]

Just as in humans, advancing age may affect memory in cats. Some cats may experience a weakening of both learning ability and memory that affects them adversely in ways similar to those occurring in poorly aging humans. A slowing of function is normal, and this includes memory. Aging may affect memory by changing the way their brain stores information and by making it harder to recall stored information. Cats lose brain cells as they age, just as humans do.[64] The older the cat, the more these changes can affect its memory. There have been no studies done on the memories of aging cats, but there is some speculation that, just like people, short-term memory is more affected by aging.[65] In one test of where to find food, cats' short-term memory lasted about 16 hours.[66]

Diseases[edit]

Disease, such as feline cognitive dysfunction (FCD) – a condition similar to Alzheimer's disease in humans – could also affect cat memory. Symptoms of FCD include disorientation, reduced social interaction, sleep disturbances, and loss of house training. FCD causes degenerative changes in the brain that are the source of the functional impairment.[64]

Learning capacities[edit]

Edward Thorndike conducted some key experiments on cat's learning capacity. In one of Thorndike's experiments, cats were placed in various boxes approximately 20 in × 15 in × 12 in (51 cm × 38 cm × 30 cm) with a door opened by pulling a weight attached to it. The cats were observed to free themselves from the boxes by "trial and error with accidental success."[67][68] In one test the cat was shown to have done worse in a later trial than in an earlier one, suggesting that no learning from the previous trials was retained in long-term memory.[69] Therefore, Thorndike considered the cat to have the capacity for learning due to the law of effect, which states that responses followed by satisfaction (i.e. a reward) become more likely responses to the same stimulus in the future.[68][67] Thorndike was generally skeptical of the presence of intelligence in cats, criticising sources of the contemporary writing of the sentience of animals as "partiality in deductions from facts and more especially in the choice of facts for investigation."[70]

An experiment was done to identify possible observational learning in kittens. Kittens that were able to observe their mothers performing an experimentally organised act were able to perform the same act sooner than kittens that had observed a non-related adult cat, and sooner than the ones who, being placed in trial and error conditions, observed no other cat performing the act.[71][72][73]

Domestication effects[edit]

Cat intelligence study is mostly from consideration of the domesticated cat. The process of domestication has allowed for closer observation of cat behaviour and in the increased incidence of interspecies communication,[74][75] and the inherent plasticity of the cat's brain has become apparent as the number of studies in this have increased scientific insight. Changes in the genetic structure of a number of cats have been identified[76][77] as a consequence of both domestication practises and the activity of breeding, so that the species has undergone genetic evolutionary change due to human selection[76][77] (although this human selection has been coupled with an initial naturally occurring selective set of cats possessing characteristics desirable for the sharing of human habitation and living in Neolithic urban environments[78]).

Cats' intelligence may have increased during their semi-domestication: urban living may have provided an enriched and stimulating environment requiring novel adaptive behaviours.[79] This scavenging behaviour[80][81] would only have produced slow changes in evolutionary terms, but such changes would have been comparable to the changes to the brain[82] of early primitive hominids who co-existed with primitive cats (like, for example, Machairodontinae, Megantereon and Homotherium) and adapted to savannah conditions.[83][84][85][86]

Eutheria

Xenarthra (late cretaceous)
(armadillos, anteaters, sloths)

Pholidota (late cretaceous)
(pangolins)

Epitheria (latest Cretaceous)

(some extinct groups) X

Insectivora (latest Cretaceous)
(hedgehogs, shrews, moles, tenrecs)

Anagalida

Zalambdalestidae X (late Cretaceous)

Macroscelidea (late Eocene)
(elephant shrews)

Anagaloidea X

Glires (early Paleocene)

Lagomorpha (Eocene)(rabbits, hares, pikas)

Rodentia (late Paleocene)
(mice & rats, squirrels, porcupines)

Archonta

Scandentia (mid Eocene)
(tree shrews)

Primatomorpha

Plesiadapiformes X

Primates (early Paleocene)
(tarsiers, lemurs, monkeys, apes including humans)

Dermoptera (late Eocene)
(colugos)

Chiroptera (late Paleocene)
(bats)

Carnivora (early Paleocene)
(cats, dogs, bears, seals)

Ungulatomorpha (late Cretaceous)
Eparctocyona (late Cretaceous)

(some extinct groups) X

Arctostylopida X (late Paleocene)

Mesonychia X (mid Paleocene)
(predators / scavengers, but not closely related to modern carnivores)

Cetartiodactyla

Cetacea (early Eocene)
(whales, dolphins, porpoises)

Artiodactyla (early Eocene)
(even-toed ungulates: pigs, hippos, camels, giraffes, cattle, deer)

Altungulata

Hilalia X

Perissodactyla (late Paleocene)
(odd-toed ungulates: horses, rhinos, tapirs)

Tubulidentata (early Miocene)
(aardvarks)

Paenungulata ("not quite ungulates")

Hyracoidea (early Eocene)
(hyraxes)

Sirenia (early Eocene)
(manatees, dugongs)

Proboscidea(early Eocene)
(elephants)

Cat's urban living is, however, unlikely to indefinitely improve the animal's intelligence: consider the fossil-based family tree of placental mammals[87] above; the feline line diverged many years previously from the primate line; the cat both feral and domesticated is likely to be maintained in an evolutionary stasis by its niche position in the food web.[88]

Exploitation possibilities[edit]

Cats are known to be trained to perform as circus animals.[89] An example of this is The Yuri Kuklachev Cat Theatre based in Moscow,[90] the owner of which has been training cats for many years to perform a range of circus-style tricks.

In artificial intelligence[edit]

In November 2009, scientists claimed to simulate a cat's brain using a supercomputer[91] containing 24,576 processors.[92][93] This experiment did not simulate the function of the individual neurons in the brain, nor their synaptic patterns. It was intended to demonstrate that the problem of simulating a biological brain could be scaled to very large supercomputer platforms.[94] However, the approach has been criticised as flawed.[95][96]

There are a number of reasons for why the cat brain is a goal of computer simulations. Cats are familiar and easily kept animals, so the physiology of cats has been particularly well studied. The physical structures of human brains and cat brains are very similar.[14] Cats, like humans, have binocular vision that gives them depth perception.[97] Moreover, trying to build artificial mammal brains advances the research of both neuroscience and artificial intelligence.[98]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Roth, Gerhard; Dicke, Ursula (2005). "Evolution of the brain and intelligence". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 9 (5): 250–7. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.005. PMID 15866152.
  2. ^ Kinser, Patricia Anne. "Brain and Body Size". Serendip. Bryn Mawr College. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d Freberg, Laura (2009). "Relative Encephalization Quotients". Discovering Biological Psychology. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-547-17779-3.
  4. ^ Deamer, Dave (5 November 2009). "Calculating Animal Intelligence".[self-published source?]
  5. ^ Davies, Paul (2010). "How Much Intelligence is Out There?". The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence. pp. 66–92. ISBN 978-0-547-48849-3.
  6. ^ Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki; Kitchener, Andrew C.; Gilissen, Emmanuel; MacDonald, David W. (2009). "Brain size of the lion (Panthera leo) and the tiger (P. Tigris): Implications for intrageneric phylogeny, intraspecific differences and the effects of captivity". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 98 (1): 85–93. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2009.01249.x.
  7. ^ Healy, Susan D.; Rowe, Candy (2007). "A critique of comparative studies of brain size". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 274 (1609): 453–64. doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3748. JSTOR 25223800. PMC 1766390. PMID 17476764.
  8. ^ Outhwaite, William (2006). The Blackwell dictionary of modern social thought (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-4051-3456-9.
  9. ^ Weiner, Irving B.; Craighead, W. Edward (2010). The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology. 4. John Wiley & Sons. p. 1857.
  10. ^ Sorabji, Richard (1995). Animal Minds and Human Morals: The Origins of the Western Debate. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8298-4.[page needed]
  11. ^ Allen, Colin (13 October 2010). "Animal Consciousness". In Zalta, Edward N. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  12. ^ Nieuwenhuyis, Rudolf; ten Donkelaar, Hendrik Jan; Nicholson, Charles (1998). The Central Nervous System of Vertebrates. ISBN 978-3-540-56013-5.[page needed]
  13. ^ Chudler, Eric H. "Brain Facts and Figures".[self-published source?]
  14. ^ a b Gross, Richard (2010). Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour. ISBN 978-1-4441-0831-6.[page needed]
  15. ^ Mann, M (1979). "Sets of neurons in somatic cerebral cortex of the cat and their ontogeny". Brain Research Reviews. 180 (1): 3–45. doi:10.1016/0165-0173(79)90015-8. PMID 385112.
  16. ^ "How Smart Is Your Cat?". Cat Watach. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. February 2010.[not in citation given]
  17. ^ Ananthanarayanan, Rajagopal; Esser, Steven K.; Simon, Horst D.; Modha, Dharmendra S. (2009). "The cat is out of the bag: cortical simulations with 109 neurons, 1013 synapses". Proceedings of the Conference on High Performance Computing Networking, Storage and Analysis - SC '09. pp. 1–12. doi:10.1145/1654059.1654124. ISBN 978-1-60558-744-8.
  18. ^ Kosslyn, S. M.; Pascual-Leone, A; Felician, O; Camposano, S; Keenan, JP; Thompson, WL; Ganis, G; Sukel, KE; Alpert, NM (1999). "The Role of Area 17 in Visual Imagery: Convergent Evidence from PET and rTMS". Science. 284 (5411): 167–70. Bibcode:1999Sci...284..167K. doi:10.1126/science.284.5411.167. PMID 10102821.
  19. ^ Solnick, Bennett; Davis, Thomas L.; Sterling, Peter (1984). "Numbers of Specific Types of Neuron in Layer IVab of Cat Striate Cortex". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 81 (12): 3898–900. Bibcode:1984PNAS...81.3898S. doi:10.1073/pnas.81.12.3898. PMC 345329. PMID 6587398.
  20. ^ Beaulieu, Clermont; Colonnier, Marc (1989). "Number of neurons in individual laminae of areas 3B, 4?, and 6a? Of the cat cerebral cortex: A comparison with major visual areas". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 279 (2): 228–34. doi:10.1002/cne.902790206. PMID 2913067.
  21. ^ "visual cortex". Farlex. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  22. ^ "Gyrencephalic Definition". Serendip. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  23. ^ Smith, J. M.; James, M. F.; Bockhorst, K. H. J.; Smith, M. I.; Bradley, D. P.; Papadakis, N. G.; Carpenter, T. A.; Parsons, A. A.; et al. (2001). "Investigation of feline brain anatomy for the detection of cortical spreading depression with magnetic resonance imaging". Journal of Anatomy. 198 (5): 537–54. doi:10.1017/S002187820100766X. PMC 1468243. PMID 11430693.
  24. ^ Kurths, Jürgen; Zhou, Changsong; Zamora-López, Gorka (2011). "Exploring Brain Function from Anatomical Connectivity". Frontiers in Neuroscience. 5: 83. doi:10.3389/fnins.2011.00083. PMC 3124130. PMID 21734863.
  25. ^ Feig, Sherry; Harting, John K. (1998). "Corticocortical communication via the thalamus: Ultrastructural studies of corticothalamic projections from area 17 to the lateral posterior nucleus of the cat and inferior pulvinar nucleus of the owl monkey". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 395 (3): 281–95. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-9861(19980808)395:3<281::AID-CNE2>3.0.CO;2-Z. PMID 9596524.
  26. ^ Huang, Chuong C; Lindsley, Donald B (1973). "Polysensory responses and sensory interaction in pulvinar and related postero-lateral thalamic nuclei in cat". Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology. 34 (3): 265–80. doi:10.1016/0013-4694(73)90254-X. PMID 4129614.
  27. ^ Bear, Mark F.; Connors, Barry W.; Paradiso, Michael A. (2007). "Neural Components of Aggression Beyond the Amygdala". Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain. pp. 579–81. ISBN 978-0-7817-6003-4.
  28. ^ Fourment, A.; Hirsch, J.C. (1980). "Synaptic potentials in cat's lateral geniculate neurons during natural sleep with special reference to paradoxical sleep". Neuroscience Letters. 16 (2): 149–54. doi:10.1016/0304-3940(80)90335-3. PMID 6302571.
  29. ^ Adamec, R.E.; Stark-Adamec, C. (1983). "Partial kindling and emotional bias in the cat: Lasting aftereffects of partial kindling of the ventral hippocampus". Behavioral and Neural Biology. 38 (2): 205–22. doi:10.1016/S0163-1047(83)90212-1. PMID 6314985.
  30. ^ Marcos, P; Coveñas, R; Narvaez, J.A; Aguirre, J.A; Tramu, G; Gonzalez–Baron, S (1998). "Neuropeptides in the Cat Amygdala". Brain Research Bulletin. 45 (3): 261–8. doi:10.1016/S0361-9230(97)00343-2. PMID 9580215.
  31. ^ Forrest, David V. (2002). "The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind". American Journal of Psychiatry. 159 (9): 1615–6. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.9.1615.
  32. ^ Diamond, Adele (2011). "Frontal Lobe Involvement in Cognitive Changes During the First Year of Life". In Gibson, Kathleen R.; Petersen, Anne C. Brain Maturation and Cognitive Development: Comparative and Cross-Cultural Perspectives. pp. 127–80. ISBN 978-1-4128-4450-5.
  33. ^ Clarke, Stephanie; de Ribaupierre, François; Bajo, Victoria M.; Rouiller, Eric M.; Kraftsik, Rudolf (1995). "The auditory pathway in cat corpus callosum". Experimental Brain Research. 104 (3): 534–40. doi:10.1007/BF00231988. PMID 7589305.
  34. ^ Payne, B. R.; Siwek, D. F. (1991). "The Visual Map in the Corpus Callosum of the Cat". Cerebral Cortex. 1 (2): 173–88. doi:10.1093/cercor/1.2.173. PMID 1822731.
  35. ^ Ebner, Ford F.; Myers, Ronald E. (1965). "Distribution of corpus callosum and anterior commissure in cat and raccoon". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 124 (3): 353–65. doi:10.1002/cne.901240306. PMID 5861718.
  36. ^ Boya, Jesús; Calvo, Jose Luis; Rancano, Dolores (1995). "Structure of the pineal gland in the adult cat". Journal of Pineal Research. 18 (2): 112–8. doi:10.1111/j.1600-079X.1995.tb00148.x. PMID 7629690.
  37. ^ Peters, D. A. V.; McGeer, P. L.; McGeer, E. G. (1968). "The Distribution of Tryptophan Hydroxylase in Cat Brain". Journal of Neurochemistry. 15 (12): 1431–5. doi:10.1111/j.1471-4159.1968.tb05924.x. PMID 5305846.
  38. ^ Grouse, Lawrence D.; Schrier, Bruce K.; Nelson, Phillip G. (1979). "Effect of visual experience on gene expression during the development of stimulus specificity in cat brain". Experimental Neurology. 64 (2): 354–64. doi:10.1016/0014-4886(79)90275-9. PMID 428511.
  39. ^ Okujav, Vazha; Natishvili, Teimuraz; Gogeshvili, Ketevan; Gurashvili, Thea; Chipashvili, Senera; Bagashvili, Tamila; Andronikashvili, George; Okujava, Natela (2009). "Visual Recognition Memory in Cats: Effects of Massed vs. Distributed Trials" (PDF). Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. 3 (2): 168–72. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-06.
  40. ^ Okujava, Vazha; Natishvili, Teimuraz; Mishkin, Mortime; Gurashvili, Thea; Chipashvili, Senera; Bagashvili, Tamil; Andronikashvili, George; Kvernadze, George (2005). "One-trial visual recognition in cats". Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis. 65 (2): 205–11. PMID 15960308.
  41. ^ Fiset, Sylvain; Doré, François Y. (1996). "Spatial encoding in domestic cats (Felis catus)". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes. 22 (4): 420–37. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.22.4.420. PMID 8865610.
  42. ^ a b c d Covington, MB. (2004). "Omega-3 Fatty Acids". American Family Physician. 70: 133–140 – via American Family Physician.
  43. ^ a b c Bauer EB. (2006). "Metabolic basis for the essential nature of fatty acids and the unique dietary fatty acid requirement of cats". Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 229 (11): 1729–32. doi:10.2460/javma.229.11.1729. PMID 17144816.
  44. ^ a b Biagi G., Moedenti A. and Cocchi M. (2004). "The role of dietary omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids in the nutrition of dogs and cat: A review". Progress in Nutrition. 6 (2): 1–13.
  45. ^ Coutreras MA., Greiner RS., Chang MC., Myers CS., Salem N JR. and Rapoport SI (2000). "Nutritional deprivation of alpha-linolenic acid decreases but does not abolish turnover and availability of unacylated docosahexaenoic acid and docosahexaenoyl-CoA in rat brain". Journal of Neurochemistry. 75 (6): 2392–400. doi:10.1046/j.1471-4159.2000.0752392.x. PMID 11080190.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
  46. ^ a b Sturman JA., Lu P., Xu Y. and Imaki H. ( (1994). "Feline Maternal Taurine Deficiency: Effects on Visual Cortex of the Offspring. A Morphometric and Immunohistochemical Study". Taurine in Health & Disease. 359 (1): 369–84.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
  47. ^ Sturman JA., Rassin DK. and Gaull GE. (1977). "Taurine in development". Life Sciences. 21 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1016/0024-3205(77)90420-9.
  48. ^ a b Shawn., Messonnier (2012). Nutritional supplements for the veterinary practice : a pocket guide. American Animal Hospital Association. Lakewood, Colo.: AAHA Press. ISBN 9781583261743. OCLC 794670587.
  49. ^ Shawn., Messonnier (2001). Natural health bible for dogs & cats : your A-Z guide to over 200 conditions, herbs, vitamins, and supplements (1st ed.). Roseville, Calif.: Prima. ISBN 9780761526735. OCLC 45320627.
  50. ^ Reingold, Eyal (3 October 2007). "Human Intelligence". University of Toronto.[self-published source?]
  51. ^ Gläscher, Jan; Tranel, Daniel; Paul, Lynn K.; Rudrauf, David; Rorden, Chris; Hornaday, Amanda; Grabowski, Thomas; Damasio, Hanna; Adolphs, Ralph (2009). "Lesion Mapping of Cognitive Abilities Linked to Intelligence". Neuron. 61 (5): 681–91. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2009.01.026. PMC 2728583. PMID 19285465. Lay summaryCaltech (11 March 2009).
  52. ^ Soto, Timothy. (2013) Processing Speed Index Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders
  53. ^ Triana, Estrella (March 1981). "Object permanence in cats and dogs". Animal Learning & Behavior. 9 (1): 135–139. doi:10.3758/bf03212035.
  54. ^ "Human Analog Tests of the Sixth Stage of Object Permanence". Percept mot Skills. 80 (3 !pages=1059–1068). June 1995.
  55. ^ Fiset, Sylvain; Doré, François Y. (2006). "Duration of cats' (Felis catus) working memory for disappearing objects". Animal Cognition. 9 (1): 62–70. doi:10.1007/s10071-005-0005-4. PMID 16133631.
  56. ^ B. Osthaus Archived 11 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Meikle, James (16 June 2009). "Cats outsmarted in psychologist's test". The Guardian.
  57. ^ Pallaud, B. (1984). "Hypotheses on mechanisms underlying observational learning in animals". Behavioural Processes. 9 (4): 381–394. doi:10.1016/0376-6357(84)90024-X. PMID 24924084.
  58. ^ "Animals have complex dreams, MIT researcher proves".
  59. ^ Louie, K; Wilson, MA (January 2001). "Temporally structured replay of awake hippocampal ensemble activity during rapid eye movement sleep". Neuron. 29 (1): 145–156. doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00186-6. PMID 11182087.
  60. ^ "Feline Intelligence". Animal Planet. 2013-01-23. Once attained, even if by accident or trial and error, most knowledge is retained for life, thanks to the cat's excellent memory.
  61. ^ "The Intelligent Cat". Cats International. Archived from the original on 19 May 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2007.[unreliable source?]
  62. ^ a b Stock, Judith A. Pet Place. 1 January 2011. Web. 24 March 2011.[verification needed]
  63. ^ Pawprints and Purrs. Cat Health. 11 October 2010. Web. 24 March 2011.[verification needed]
  64. ^ a b Memory Loss With Aging. Family Doctor. 22 January 1996. Web. 24 March 2011.
  65. ^ "Do Cats Have Long-Term Memory?". The Nest. As Kitty ages, his brain function will decline. Feline cognitive dysfunction is a disease similar to Alzheimer's in humans. It is caused by deterioration of the brain itself, leading to reduced cognitive functioning. A cat with this condition has trouble getting around, because he becomes disoriented easily.
  66. ^ "Do Cats Have Long-Term Memory?". The Nest. In one test of where to find food, cats' short-term memory lasted about 16 hours...
  67. ^ a b Thorndike, Edward Lee (1911). Animal Intelligence. Macmillian Company. p. 150.
  68. ^ a b D.Bernstein; L. A. Penner; A. Clarke-Stewart; E. J. Roy (October 2007). Psychology. Cengage Learning. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-618-87407-1. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  69. ^ Thorndike, Edward Lee (1898). Animal Intelligence.[page needed].
  70. ^ Budiansky, Stephen (1911). If a Lion Could Talk: Animal Intelligence and the Evolution of Consciousness. ISBN 978-0-684-83710-9. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  71. ^ Chesler, P. (1969). "Maternal Influence in Learning by Observation in Kittens". Science. 166 (390): 901–903. Bibcode:1969Sci...166..901C. doi:10.1126/science.166.3907.901. PMID 5345208.
  72. ^ Case, Linda P. (2003). The cat: its behavior, nutrition, & health. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-8138-0331-9.
  73. ^ Turner, D. C. (2000). The domestic cat: the biology of its behaviour. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-63648-3.
  74. ^ Boone 1956[verification needed]
  75. ^ Fox 1980[verification needed]
  76. ^ a b Driscoll, C. A.; Menotti-Raymond, M.; Roca, A. L.; Hupe, K.; Johnson, W. E.; Geffen, E.; Harley, E. H.; Delibes, M.; et al. (2007). "The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication". Science. 317 (5837): 519–23. Bibcode:2007Sci...317..519D. doi:10.1126/science.1139518. PMC 5612713. PMID 17600185.
  77. ^ a b "Evolution of the cat". The Feline Advisory Bureau.
  78. ^ Driscoll, Carlos A.; MacDonald, David W.; O'Brien, Stephen J. (2009). "Colloquium Papers: From wild animals to domestic pets, an evolutionary view of domestication". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (Suppl 1): 9971–8. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106.9971D. doi:10.1073/pnas.0901586106. JSTOR 40428411. PMC 2702791. PMID 19528637.
  79. ^ Carlstead, Kathy; Brown, Janine L.; Seidensticker, John (1993). "Behavioral and adrenocortical responses to environmental changes in leopard cats (Felis bengalensis)". Zoo Biology. 12 (4): 321–31. doi:10.1002/zoo.1430120403.
  80. ^ "Rare scavenging wild cat - Jaguar". Stalking the Jaguar. BBCWorldwide. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  81. ^ cutoffresonance. "Scavenging cat caught in the act". Retrieved 24 December 2011.[unreliable source?]
  82. ^ Stanford, Craig B.; Bunn, Henry T., eds. (2001). Meat-Eating and Human Evolution. ISBN 978-0-19-535129-3.[page needed]
  83. ^ Linseele, Veerle; Van Neer, Wim; Hendrickx, Stan (2007). "Evidence for early cat taming in Egypt". Journal of Archaeological Science. 34 (12): 2081–90. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.02.019.
  84. ^ Tobias, Philip V. (1992). "Paleoecology of Hominid Emergence". In Schopf, J. William. Major Events in the History of Life. pp. 147–58. ISBN 978-0-86720-268-7.
  85. ^ Croitor, Roman (17 March 2010). "On supposed ecological relationship of the early representatives of the genus Homo and saber-toothed cats". SciTopics. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  86. ^ Hart, Donna; Sussman, Robert W. (2011). "The Influence of Predation on Primate and Early Human Evolution: Impetus for Cooperation". In Sussman, Robert W.; Cloninger, C. Robert. Origins of Altruism and Cooperation. pp. 19–40. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9520-9_3. ISBN 978-1-4419-9519-3.
  87. ^ "Palaeos Vertebrates: Cladograms: 360 Mammalia". 20 December 2010. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2011.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  88. ^ Jordán, Ferenc; Liu, Wei-Chung; Davis, Andrew J. (2006). "Topological keystone species: Measures of positional importance in food webs". Oikos. 112 (3): 535–46. doi:10.1111/j.0030-1299.2006.13724.x.
  89. ^ G. Popovich google.co.uk
    • [Retrieved 2011-12-27]
  90. ^ "Yurii Kuklachev Cat Theatre in Moscow".
  91. ^ "IBM computer simulates cat's cerebral cortex". NBC News. Associated Press. 18 November 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  92. ^ Fischetti, Mark (25 October 2011). "IBM Simulates 4.5 percent of the Human Brain, and All of the Cat Brain". Scientific American. Nature America, Inc. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  93. ^ Adee, Sally (18 November 2009). "IBM Unveils a New Brain Simulator". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  94. ^ Adee, Sally (January 2010). "Two simulations and an angry e-mail reveal the conflicting goals of supercomputer brain modeling". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  95. ^ Burt, Jeffrey (24 November 2009). "Rival Scientist Calls IBM Cat Brain Simulation a Scam". eWeek. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  96. ^ DNews (11 February 2013). "IBM Cat Brain Computer Debunked : Discovery News".
  97. ^ Grossberg, Stephen; Grunewald, Alexander (2002). "Temporal dynamics of binocular disparity processing with corticogeniculate interactions". Neural Networks. 15 (2): 181–200. doi:10.1016/S0893-6080(01)00149-6. hdl:2144/2234. PMID 12022507.
  98. ^ Koch, Christof; Tononi, Giulio (June 2008). "Can Machines Be Conscious?". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 31 December 2009.

Further reading[edit]

  • Bergler, Reinhold "Man and Cat: The Benefits of Cat Ownership" Blackwell Scientific Publications (1989)
  • Bradshaw, John W S "The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat" C A B International (1992)
  • Chesler, P. (1969). "Maternal Influence in Learning by Observation in Kittens". Science. 166 (3907): 901–3. Bibcode:1969Sci...166..901C. doi:10.1126/science.166.3907.901. PMID 5345208.
  • Hobhouse, L T Mind in Evolution MacMillan, London (1915)
  • Turner, Dennis C, and Patrick Bateson. "The Domestic Cat: The Biology of Its Behaviour" Cambridge University Press (1988)
  • Miles, R. C. (1958). "Learning in kittens with manipulatory, exploratory, and food incentives". Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology. 51 (1): 39–42. doi:10.1037/h0049255. PMID 13513843.
  • Neville, Peter "Claws and Purrs" Sidgwick & Jackson (1992)
  • Neville, Peter "Do Cats Need Shrinks" Sidgwick & Jackson (1990)
  • Voith, VL (1981). "You, too, can teach a cat tricks (examples of shaping, second-order reinforcement, and constraints on learning)". Modern Veterinary Practice. 62 (8): 639–42. PMID 7290076.

External links[edit]

  • D.M.Fankhauser biology.clc.uc.edu Removal and study of the cat brain and Cranial nerves of the cat biology.clc.uc.edu [Retrieved 2011-12-22] (images and instruction) for an anatomy and physiology class for the dissecting of the brain of a cat