Cats are able to recognise their name being called, a new study shows, but whether they could care less is a completely different matter.

Unlike their canine counterparts, the ability of domestic cats to communicate with humans has not been explored thoroughly.

This prompted researchers in Japan to investigate how well domestic cats could discriminate between different human words.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, involved researchers performing a series of experiments with house cats and felines from a "cat cafe" to see how they reacted to their names and other nouns.

Scientists discovered that cats in regular households could differentiate their names and other names and nouns after studying a total of 78 cats.


The pets showed responses that would indicate recognition, such as pricking up their ears or moving their heads, although they rarely showed excitement.

Image: Cat cafes attract tourists in Tokyo, Japan

The report said: "These cats discriminated their own names from general nouns even when unfamiliar persons uttered them.

"These results indicate that cats are able to discriminate their own names from other words."

The experts said it was "reasonable" to believe cats would react to their own names as they might associate it with rewards, such as food or play, or with "punishments", including having a bath or paying a visit to the vet.

Atsuko Saito, a cognitive biologist at Sophia University in Tokyo, said the study could be used to help improve cats' quality of life in the future.

"For example, perhaps we can get cats to learn that dangerous objects or places are referred to by specific utterances," he wrote.

"This work has shed new light on the ability of cats to communicate with humans; further clarifying cats' abilities with respect to cat-human communication will potentially enhance the welfare of both humans and cats."

While all of the cats were able to distinguish between regular nouns and their own name, the cats living in a cat cafe were not as able to tell their own name apart from the names of other cats they lived with.

"Cafe cats may hear their name mentioned along with other cat names frequently without accurate reward discrimination by visitors," the authors speculate.

"For example, if a visitor calls cat A, but cat B approaches to the visitor and cat B gets petting and treats instead of cat A. These situations would make name discrimination less relevant for these cats."