Flexible search behavior in domestic cats (Felis catus): A case study of predator-prey interaction
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
2000 |
Authors: |
C. Dumas |
Publication/Journal: |
Journal of Comparative Psychology |
Keywords: |
*choice behavior, analysis of variance, animals, cats/psychology*, choice behaviour, female, male, models, predatory behavior, predatory behaviour, statistical |
ISBN: |
0735-7036 |
Abstract:
Domestic cats (Felis catus) were administered an object permanence task in a novel and a familiar
situation to investigate flexibility (i.e., pause behavior and searching by following a path opposite of that
taken by the object when it disappeared) in search behavior. Pause and opposite search were assumed to
be independent, equipmbable, and randomly exhibited (i.e., random model). The random model predicted
that cats would exhibit flexible behavior on 75% of the trials. The results revealed that flexible behavior
occurred on 69% of the trials in the novel situation, but only on 52% of the trials in the familiar setting
in which pauses were less frequent and shorter than in the novel situation. Thus, the random model
provided a good fit of the data in the novel but not in the familiar situation. It is argued that pause and
opposite search reflect decision processes when cats are dealing with the behavior of prey that has
disappeared while being pursued.