Japanese researchers believe cats know the names of their owners

What happened: Japanese researchers have concluded in an experiment that cats associated the names of their companions with their faces without training and the experiment were done on 48 cats, and all of the cats had lived with at least two other pets, while 19 had lived in a family home. The Japanese scientists conducted the research to study cats’ cognitive abilities, and the cats’ responses to images were tracked whenever a name was called. Details: However, the scientists believed,  “If the cat stared longer at the photo, it meant it was familiar with the pictured animal’s real name, and household cats paid attention to the monitor for longer when the wrong name was called, indicting an expectancy violation effect.”  Whereas, the cats were quick to recognize their owners, as the study quotes,  “The study provides evidence that cats link a companion’s name and corresponding face without explicit training.”