Cats acquire vocabulary more rapidly than human infants,reveals new research.Having coexisted with humans for roughly 12,000 years,these feline companions may have closely observed our communicative patterns,scientists propose.Recent findings indicate pets can link words to specific objects or visuals quicker than babies,building on prior evidence of their cognitive skills—such as following pointing gestures,recognizing names,and identifying familiar faces.

Saho Takagi,the cognitive scientist at Japan's Abazu University who led the study,suggested cats might be"innately programmed"to grasp elements of human language."I was astonished—it implies cats overhear our conversations and comprehend terms without reward-based training,"he remarked.To explore this,Takagi's team adapted methods used for 14-month-old infants,testing 31 adult cats.Each faced a laptop showing dual cartoon animations while hearing caregivers utter a fabricated word via audio.

Notably,most cats habituated to stimulus pairings within four trials,a process faster than infants'typical 16–20 exposures.In mismatched trials(audio not aligning with images),felines spent 33%longer viewing screens,displaying confusion."Some even gazed with dilated pupils during switched conditions,"Takagi explained."Cats pay closer attention to our daily speech and strive to understand us more than we acknowledge."

The results confirm cats rapidly form word-image associations.However,experts emphasize that further studies are essential to determine if these abilities are unique to felines or common across species.