猫咪知道自己的名字吗？ / 四六文摘

More than 3,000 years ago in Egypt, a tabby called Nedjem is thought to have roamed the royal household of Thutmose III.

3000多年前的埃及，据说，一只名叫内杰姆的虎斑猫曾在图特摩斯三世的王室中游荡。

History doesn’t record whether Nedjem — whose name means 'sweet’ or 'pleasant’ — learnt to respond when called.

历史并没有记录下内杰姆——他的名字的意思是“甜蜜的”或者“令人愉快的”——是否学会了回应别人的呼唤。

But a study published on 4 April in Scientific Reports1 suggests that at least some modern housecats can distinguish their names from similar-sounding words, although they register recognition with the merest twitch of the head or ear.

但4月4日发表在《科学报告》上的一项研究表明，至少一些现代家猫能从发音相似的词中分辨出自己的名字，尽管它们的识别过程中只需要轻微的摇头或抽动耳朵就算数。

“Cats are just as good as dogs at learning — they're just not as keen to show their owners what they've learnt,” says John Bradshaw, a biologist at the University of Bristol, UK, who specializes in human–animal interactions.

英国布里斯托尔大学的生物学家约翰·布拉德肖专门研究人和动物之间的互动，说道，“猫和狗一样善于学习，只是它们不太愿意向主人展示自己学到了什么”。

The study took advantage of a technique known as 'habituation–dishabituation’, commonly used in animal-behaviour studies.

这项研究利用了一种被称为“习惯-反习惯”的技术，这种技术通常用于动物行为研究。

Atsuko Saito, a cognitive biologist at the University of Tokyo, and her colleagues visited 11 households with pet cats (Felis catus) and asked the owner to read a list of four nouns to their pet.

东京大学的认知生物学家齐藤广子和她的同事走访了11户养有宠物猫的家庭，要求主人给他们的宠物读一份由四个名词组成的清单。

These words were of the same length and rhythm as the cat's name.

这些词和猫的名字有一样的长度和韵律。

Most cats showed subtle signs that they were paying attention at first, by moving their head or ears.

大多数猫通过移动它们的头或耳朵，显示出它们开始注意的微妙迹象。

But by the fourth word, many had essentially stopped listening and their physical response was less pronounced.

但到第四个单词时，许多猫基本上已经不再听了，它们的身体反应也不那么明显了。

When their owners uttered a fifth word — the cat’s name — Saito’s team watched closely to see whether the pet displayed a stronger physical response than it had to the previous word.

当它们的主人说出第五个单词——猫的名字时，斋藤博士的研究小组仔细观察这只猫是否表现出比前一个单词更强的身体反应。

The team found that 9 of the 11 cats showed a statistically significant (albeit subtle) heightening of their response when they heard their names.

研究小组发现，11只猫中有9只在听到自己的名字时，表现出了统计学上显著的(尽管是细微的)反应增强。

That alone does not prove that the felines recognized their monikers: a cat might have shown a stronger response to its name because that word was more familiar than others used in the test.

单凭这一点并不能证明猫科动物能认出自己的名字:一只猫可能对自己的名字有更强的反应，是因为这个词在测试中比其他词猫更熟悉罢了。

To explore this possibility, Saito’s team repeated the experiment in four households that each contained five or more cats.

为了探索这种可能性，斋藤的团队在四个家庭中重复了这个实验，其中每个家庭都有5只或更多的猫。

This time, the first four words each cat heard were the names of its co-habiting felines; the fifth was the cat’s own name.

这一次，每只猫听到的头四个单词是它的同居猫的名字;第五个是猫自己的名字。

Just 6 of the 24 cats showed a gradual reduction in their physical response as the list of names was read out.

在24只猫中，只有6只猫的身体反应随着名字被读出而逐渐减弱。

This might indicate that most cats in multi-cat households attach meaning, and the possibility of a reward, to any familiar name, and so remain alert.

这可能表明，在多猫家庭中，大多数猫对任何熟悉的名字都赋予了意义和可能的奖励，因此保持警惕。

But all six of the cats that stopped paying attention during the roll call showed a significantly stronger response to their own name, suggesting that at least some cats discriminate their moniker from others.

但在点名时不集中注意力的6只猫对自己的名字的反应都明显更强，这表明至少有一些猫会把自己的名字和其他猫区别开来。

In a follow-up experiment in a 'cat cafe,' where customers watch and play with cats, 3 of 9 animals showed a heightened response to their own name.

在一家“猫咪咖啡馆”进行的后续实验中，9只猫中有3只对自己的名字反应更强烈。

“I think the sum total of results across the studies provides compelling evidence that the cats’ names are of special significance to them,” says Jennifer Vonk, a cognitive psychologist at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

“我认为所有研究结果的总和提供了令人信服的证据，证明猫的名字对它们有特殊的意义”，密歇根州罗切斯特市奥克兰大学的认知心理学家詹妮弗.冯克说道。

But Bradshaw stresses that the study doesn’t suggest that cats actually understand human language.

但布拉德肖强调，这项研究并不表明猫真的能听懂人类的语言。

What it shows is that cats can discriminate between sound cues.

这表明猫能够辨别声音线索。

“It’s a giant step from there to language, which would have to include grammar and syntax,” he says.

他说:“这是向语言迈出的一大步，而语言其中必须包括语法和句法。

Some cat owners might be sceptical that their pet shows any ability to recognize its name.

一些猫主人可能会怀疑他们的宠物是否有能力认出它的名字。

And not all cats in the study did so, while even those that did registered their recognition in ways that are easy to miss.

研究中并不是所有的猫都能识别，即使是那些能识别的猫，它们的识别方式也很容易被忽略。

Owners “should not be disappointed in their cats if they don’t respond as hoped”, says Dennis Turner, director of the Institute for Applied Ethology and Animal Psychology in Horgen, Switzerland.

瑞士霍根应用动物行为学和动物心理学研究所所长丹尼斯·特纳说:“如果猫的反应不像人们希望的那样，主人们不应该对猫感到失望。”