14 DAY TRIAL // Now, scientists have found the cause of Sylvester's failure in catching Tweety. A new research has determined just low long cats can remember a certain type of information: for 10 minutes.
The study compared cats' working memory of their recent movements correlated to their visual memories, and discovered that cats remember better something they've touched with their bodies than what they've seen when they have stumbled with an object on their way, passing by the experimenter.
When the animal steps over a toy or shoe located on the floor on its way to the feeding place, it has to coordinate the movement of its front legs with its hind legs. "Animals, including humans, unconsciously keep track of the location of objects relative to the body as they move, and this tracking is largely dependent on signals associated with movement of the body," said researcher Keir Pearson of the University of Alberta in Canada.
Scientists knew about this connection, still, they could not say clearly how the kitty remembers to bring her hind legs up after her front legs have detected an obstacle. To check the cats' coordination, the team studied their memory skills and the recalling ability of just having stepped over a hurdle.
The scientists stopped cats after their front legs had sensed an obstacle, but before their hind legs stepped over it. At that moment, the animals were distracted with food and the obstacle was removed to assess how the felines responded.
The cats remembered having stepped over the obstacle for at least 10 minutes, raising their hind legs up to avoid the object, even if it wasn't there anymore.
To make a comparison with the cats' visual memory, the team repeated the test, this time stopping the cats just before stepping over with their hind limbs. It appeared that the felines were worse at remembering what they had seen but not done: when the obstacle was removed, the cats forgot it had been there and continued their route.
"There's not high-stepping at all," Pearson told LiveScience. "We've found that the long-lasting memory for guiding hind legs over an obstacle requires stepping of the forelegs over the obstacle. The main surprise was how short lasting the visual memory on its own was-just a few seconds when animals were stopped before their forelegs stepped over the obstacle. Research with horses and dogs has shown similar results," said Pearson.
The same type of memory could be also crucial for humans' ability to navigate in the dark or remember where you parked your car: walking from your car to your office strengthens the memory of where your car is located.