How Does Cat Think?
Anyone with more than passing contact with cats has probably known one that could tell when its owner was arriving home, open the door to get out, scratch on the window to get in, or perform some other feat that suggests that cats have something of note between their ears.
On the other hand, many of us have known a cat that seemed not able to respond to almost any stimuli, made a mess, or injured itself when it overstepped its intelligence hounds, never picked up any tricks, or never learned to make its needs known.
Obviously, there are smart cats, and there aren’t-so-smart cats. Like humans, for every cat that can accomplish a feat of great intelligence, there is another one that bungles it. But, as a species, there is no denying that cats are intelligent.
Of course, no one has yet developed an IQ test formats or has been able to prove the claimed intellectual superiority of certain breeds, such as Siamese. But certain characteristics of cats lead us to believe that they can think.
One clue is their cautiousness. Many other animals are not smart enough to know when there could his danger. Another is their curiosity. They will explore things in situations not essential to their survival - assure sign of intelligence far beyond the needs of mere existence. They also have a capacity for problem solving. Using their acute awareness of the world around them, they can work out answers to problems and then adapt solutions to different situations. Cats are also independent-minded, with wills of their own. Unlike Pavlov’s dogs, which repeat actions or press buttons so that thereof a reward, many cats would sooner fall asleep than be involved in such experiments. Some of these cats may be judged as not very bright, or lazy, but arguably they are only exerting their independence and refusing to cooperate.
Cats’ brains, in order to stay active, need to process constant flow of information and stimulation from their environments. Electroencephalogram (EEG) readings, recording the brain activity of cats in stimulus-free environments, showed that the cats’ brains gradually shut down to a basic body-maintenance level, without storing any thoughts or ideas.
This experiment also explains why kittens whose senses are not “exercised” from an early age do not grow up to function normally. The most intelligent cats are those raised by people who handle them, play with them, and provide a variety of stimuli for their amusement and growth.
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it’s also what leads it to learn about its environment and get what it wants. Show your cat what is in fail milk bottle. Then, after tightly sealing the bottle, leave the cat alone in the room with it. There will be lots of looking, then some sniffing, followed by some clawing and pawing, which will probably result in the bottle falling onto its side and the cat jumping back in surprise. Once it has recovered, the cat will again approach the bottle, this time more cautiously. Although the cat is interested in the entire bottle, it will likely focus its actions on the lid because it learned when you showed it the milk that that’s how you get to it.