The study aims to determine whether cats are susceptible to visual illusions
If you’ve ever had a cat and leaving any type of box sitting, no doubt, the cat at some point is placed in the box. Scientists have conducted an interesting experiment to be seen whether cats also like to sit in a fake box. This study was led by Gabriela Smith, an animal cognitive scientist from the dog center of Hunter College’s thought in New York.
Smith attended a lecture on how dogs reacted to visual illusions before returning home to play with the roomy cat. Smith starts wondering whether cats, creatures who already have a tendency to sit in a box, like a box, on the floor, will extend their sitting preferences to perch in the illusion box. Smith and colleagues use something called the Kanizsa Illusion, which involves setting four forms of Pac-Man, which basically rotates with a quarter that is removed to suggest a square contour.
The researchers reached 560 cat owners through Twitter to participate in the project. During the six-day range, volunteers use paper, scissors and rulers to make a squared line using the same form to create the illusion of squares and direct the same shape so they don’t make a square. The cat owner was ordered to wear sunglasses to hide their eyes to avoid influencing animals.
After the forms are arranged, the cat is allowed to enter the room, and the volunteers witness to see which form, if any, the cat might sit for more than three seconds in five minutes into the room. All tests are recorded on the video. Of all the cat owners were invited to participate in the project, only 30 owners completed the test.
Of the 30 owners, only nine cats made at least one choice during the experiment. The researchers said the cat found the quadratic illusion of seven times, almost eight times the cat chose the original box that showed them vulnerable to the illusion. Scientists say they will want to see more cats for research and, if done again, will look for to encourage participation by shortening the study from the original format six days.
