17 June 2009

New research has suggested that cats may not be as clever as some of their owners might like to think.

A study carried out by Canterbury Christ Church University psychology lecturer Britta Osthaus found cats were outsmarted by a test that focused on cause-and-effect, suggesting that they were unable to discover such connections.

The psychologist's study used fish and biscuit treats attached to one end of a piece of string, placing them under a plastic screen to make them unreachable.

She then observed the cats to discover whether they could work out that by pulling on the other end of the string, they would be able to access the treats.

However, where two parallel strings were used to test the cats, no cat consistently chose correctly, while where crossed over strings were used, the cats succeeded no more frequently than might be expected by chance.

Dr Osthaus said: "This finding is somehow surprising as cats regularly use their paws and claws to pull things towards them during play and hunting. They performed even worse than dogs, which can at least solve the parallel string task."

Dr Osthaus has previously studied the ability of dogs to carry out such tasks and completed a PhD in dog cognition in the School of Psychology at the University of Exeter.