貓試圖用它們的臉和你說話:研究

貓試圖用它們的臉和你說話:研究

Do you speak cat?

你會說貓語嗎?

Many might correctly guess that a feline “meow” usually translates to “feed me” in English, and many pet experts agree, believing that their chattiness is actually a means of manipulation — a shameless trick to garner human attention.

許多人可能正確地猜測到，貓的“喵”在英語中通常翻譯為“喂我”，許多寵物專家也同意這一說法，他們認(rèn)為貓的閑聊實際上是一種操縱手段——一種無恥的吸引人類注意力的伎倆。

But their inscrutable dispatches don’t end there: Cryptic kitties also send signals, through purring, hissing and, primarily, facial expressions — which can be difficult for humans to interpret.

但它們神秘的叫聲并沒有就此結(jié)束:神秘的小貓也會發(fā)出信號，通過呼嚕聲、嘶嘶聲，主要是面部表情——這些信號很難被人類解讀。

“Anyone who writes cats off as sort of moody or distant is probably underestimating them,” said Georgia Mason, a veterinary researcher and author of a study analyzing humans’ ability to understand cats. Her work was published last month in the journal “Animal Welfare.”

“任何認(rèn)為貓有點喜怒無?；蚶淠娜丝赡芏嫉凸懒怂鼈?，”獸醫(yī)研究員喬治亞梅森(Georgia Mason)說。她的研究成果上個月發(fā)表在《動物福利》雜志上。

She told Vice, “The point is they are signaling. It’s just subtle, and you need expertise — and maybe intuition — to see it.”

她告訴Vice，“關(guān)鍵是他們在發(fā)出信號。這很微妙，你需要專業(yè)知識——也許還需要直覺——才能發(fā)現(xiàn)。”

Mason and her colleagues were interested in gauging how accurately humans pick up on feline emotions written in their fuzzy little faces. Researchers asked more than 6,000 participants to watch 20 context-free cat clips, collected via veterinarians or YouTube, and to decide whether the featured feline was experiencing a negative or positive emotion.

梅森和她的同事們很感興趣的是，人類如何準(zhǔn)確地捕捉到貓在他們毛茸茸的小臉上的情緒。研究人員讓6000多名參與者觀看了20段由獸醫(yī)或YouTube網(wǎng)站收集的與背景無關(guān)的貓咪視頻，然后判斷這只貓咪的情緒是積極還是消極。

The average number of correct responses was a disappointing 11.85 out of 20 — about as accurate as if they’d simply ventured a guess for every answer.

平均正確答案的數(shù)量是令人失望的11.85分(滿分20分)——大約和他們對每個答案都進(jìn)行猜測一樣準(zhǔn)確。

Nevertheless, researchers found a few cat whisperers in their participant pool — 15% of whom scored 15 or higher on the test. However, those intuitive folks were more likely to have had veterinary training.

盡管如此，研究人員還是在參與者中發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些貓語者——其中15%在測試中得分在15分以上。然而，那些直覺敏銳的人更有可能接受過獸醫(yī)培訓(xùn)。

Even cat owners had no advantage over the average person. According to Mason, this indicates that our furry friends’ furrowed brows are unique, so that a pet parent who becomes skilled at reading their own fur-baby’s face may not be as spot-on when it comes to understanding other felines.

即使養(yǎng)貓的人也沒有比普通人多的優(yōu)勢。根據(jù)梅森的說法，這表明我們毛茸茸的朋友們皺起的眉毛是獨一無二的，所以當(dāng)一個寵物父母在理解其他貓科動物時，如果他能熟練地讀懂自己的皮毛寶寶的臉，他可能就不能準(zhǔn)確無誤地理解其他貓科動物了。

Researchers also noted that women performed better than men, and younger participants tended to score higher than middle-aged ones.

研究人員還指出，女性的表現(xiàn)比男性更好，年輕的參與者往往比中年參與者得分更高。

According to Mason, data also show that cat owners are generally less bonded to their pets than dog owners — contributing to the sad outcome that, compared to dogs, cats are more likely to be neglected, abandoned and passed-over for adoption.

據(jù)梅森說，數(shù)據(jù)還顯示，養(yǎng)貓的人通常比養(yǎng)狗的人對寵物的感情更少，這導(dǎo)致了可悲的結(jié)果，即與狗相比，貓更容易被忽視、遺棄，并被送去領(lǐng)養(yǎng)。

“We’re hoping [to conduct] more research to develop tools to help people read their cat better,” added Mason. “That would make living with a cat more rewarding.”

“我們希望(進(jìn)行)更多的研究來開發(fā)工具，幫助人們更好地閱讀他們的貓，”梅森補充說。“這將使與貓一起生活更有意義。”