Object permanence and working memory in cats (Felis catus).

Abstract

Cats (Felis catus) find an object when it is visibly moved behind a succession of screens. However, when the object is moved behind a container and is invisibly transferred from the container to the back of a screen, cats try to find the object at or near the container rather than at the true hiding place. Four experiments were conducted to study search behavior and working memory in visible and invisible displacement tests of object permanence. Experiment 1 compared performance in single and in double visible displacement trials. Experiment 2 analyzed search behavior in invisible displacement tests and in analogs using a transparent container. Experiments 3 and 4 tested predictions made from Experiments 1 and 2 in a new situation of object permanence. Results showed that only the position changes that cats have directly perceived are encoded and activated in working memory, because they are unable to represent or infer invisible movements.

Search behavior in cats and dogs: Interspecific differences in working memory and spatial cognition

“…These behavioral similarities between cats and dogs suggest that Goulet et al's (1994) interpretation of cats' search behavior may also apply to dogs. The disappearance of an object behind a screen activates this location in working memory, and the activation remains strong unless the object is visibly removed or, we may now add, unless the object visibly can no longer be at this location.…”

“…-Accepted by previous editor, Vincent M. LoLordo (Dore, 1986(Dore, , 1990Dumas & Dore, 1989;Goulet et al, 1994;Pasnak, Kurkjian, & Triana, 1988).…”

“…According to Goulet et al's (1994) interpretation of cats' search behavior, when an object is visibly hidden at two successive locations, working memory is not totally reset between the first and the second disappearance. The information on the prior hiding location is activated to some degree, but the final hiding location from which the object was not visibly removed is the most activated information.…”

“…Recently, Goulet et al (1994) examined cats' search behavior in standard Piagetian tests of object permanence (Experiments 1 and 2) as well as in a new situation of invisible displacement (Experiments 3 and 4) where there was no container and the problem was, in principle, easier to solve. In the new procedure, the object first disappeared behind a screen; a few seconds later, the object reappeared behind a different screen and then disappeared at this new location.…”

Domesticated dogs’ (Canis familiaris) use of the solidity principle

“…Studies have also begun to reveal how other species represent objects (e.g., Pepperberg and Kozak 1986;Goulet et al 1994;Funk 1996;Pepperberg et al 1997;Pollock et al 2000;Cooper et al 2003;Fiset et al 2003Collier-Baker et al 2004;Mendes and Huber 2004;Fiset and Doré 2006;Zucca et al 2007;Miklósi 2007;Miller et al 2009;Whitt et al 2009;Deppe et al 2009). Indeed, such explorations could provide new insights into tasks with human and non-human primate populations.…”