Cats discriminate human emotional cues

Galvan and Vonk investigated whether domestic cats are sensitive to their owners' emotional expressions, a capacity well documented in dogs. Cats were exposed to their owner displaying either a happy or an angry facial and postural expression, and the experimenters recorded the cats' behaviour toward the owner. Cats behaved differently depending on the owner's emotion, showing more positive behaviours such as approach when the owner was happy, but they did not respond to the emotional expressions of strangers. The authors concluded that cats can read at least some human emotional signals, but that this ability is shaped by familiarity and learning over the relationship rather than being automatic. The study added to evidence that, despite their reputation, cats attend to and modulate behaviour around human social and emotional cues.