August 07, 2003

Gimme the re(meaow)te

Question

I was told cats can't watch television because their motion perception is so fast that they see the bright dot scanning the screen and no picture. However, friends insist that their cats get quite excited when a cat appears on television. What is the truth?

Answers

Every cat lover who reads New Scientist will probably write in to you with their favourite stories but the simple answer is that cats can watch TV. A cat's motion perception is not so fast that it can track the beam that scans across a TV display or computer monitor, or fast enough to see a series of separate still images if you take your cat to the movies. The screen is being refreshed at more than 50 times per second, which is too rapid for humans or cats.

However, that does not mean a cat will interpret a TV picture in exactly the way we will. Images on flat screens lack many cues for depth perception, notably the relative movement of objects at different distances when we move our heads, and the cat may find the whole experience puzzling. You can expect cats to respond most strongly to the same cues that signal a prey in the wild: small objects, preferably with eyes and ears, moving in a jerky fashion or running away.

For some of those letters, go here.

Posted by Linkmeister at August 7, 2003 09:19 AM
Comments

i don't think i've ever had a cat that wasn't at some time fascinated by TV. although Oliver hasn't seemed to notice it yet (he's young) Abigail watches frequently watches it. and they're both fascinated with the computer mouse arrow pointer thingie.

Posted by: deborah at August 7, 2003 12:31 PM

Goblin, when he was younger, used to track hockey players across the screen.

It was greatly entertaining to watch him particularly hate Eric Lindros... :)

Posted by: Scott at August 8, 2003 01:10 AM

I will not let my newly adopted cat,
LilyRose Von Purr, to watch tv..
There is too much sex and violence..... ;-)

Posted by: toxiclabrat at August 9, 2003 08:34 AM

I was just reading your link to New Scientific.com. There was a question on the sidebar as to the weight of a human head. This answer calls to mind that little kid in Jerry McGuire who said the human head weighs 50 lbs. Guess the little snot didn't know everything...!

Posted by: toxiclabrat at August 9, 2003 04:55 PM