貓能讀懂你的情緒，只是不愿意表達出來而已

New research has found the first strong evidence that cats are sensitive to human emotional gestures.

新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)了強有力的第一手證據(jù)，證明貓對人類的情緒表征很敏感。

Moriah Galvan and Jennifer Vonk of Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, US studied 12 cats and their owners. They found that the animals behaved differently when their owner was smiling compared to when they were frowning.

在美國密歇根州羅徹斯特(Rochester)的奧克蘭大學(xué)(Oakland University)，莫里亞·嘉爾凡(Moriah Galvan)和詹妮弗·馮克(Jennifer Vonk)研究了12只貓及其主人。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)主人微笑或皺眉時，貓的反應(yīng)是不一樣的。

When faced with a smiling owner, the cats were significantly more likely to perform "positive" behaviours such as purring, rubbing or sitting on their owner's lap. They also seemed to want to spend more time close to their owner when they were smiling than when the owner was frowning.

在面對微笑著的主人時，貓作出“積極”行為的可能性大很多，比如發(fā)出咕嚕咕嚕的聲音，蹭人，或坐在主人的腿上。與皺眉頭的主人相比，貓看起來更喜歡親近微笑的主人。

The findings are published in the journal Animal Cognition.

該研究成果發(fā)表在《動物認知》(Animal Cognition)期刊上。

The pattern was completely different when the 12 cats were presented with strangers, instead of their owners. In this setup, they showed the same amount of positive behaviour, regardless of whether the person was smiling or frowning.

當(dāng)研究者把貓的主人替換為陌生人時，這12只貓的反應(yīng)模式則完全不同，不論陌生人是微笑還是皺眉，貓的積極行為的程度并沒有變化。

The results suggest two things: cats can read human facial expressions, and they learn this ability over time.

這個結(jié)果說明兩件事：一是貓能夠讀懂人的面部表情，二是貓需要花時間來掌握這一能力。

We have known for a while that dogs are good at recognising human facial expressions. But this is the first convincing evidence that cats have the same capacity.

我們早已知道狗善于辨別人類的面部表情。但是，這是首次發(fā)現(xiàn)讓人信服的證據(jù)，證明貓也有相同的能力。

Before this, only one other study has been done on the ability of cats to perceive human emotional expressions. Published in January 2015, it found ambiguous results.

在這之前，人們僅進行過一項關(guān)于貓觀察人類表情能力的研究。該研究于2015年1月發(fā)表，得出了模棱兩可的結(jié)論。

Galvan and Vonk's finding suggests that cats are more in tune with human emotions than we thought.

嘉爾凡和馮克的研究說明貓對人的情緒的敏感程度出乎我們的預(yù)料。

That does not mean they feel empathy. It's more likely that the cats had learned to associate their owners' smiles with rewards: people are more likely to spoil a cat when they are in a good mood.

但這并不意味著貓能感同身受。更大的可能是貓學(xué)會了把主人的微笑與獎賞聯(lián)系到一起：當(dāng)人們心情很好時，他們溺愛貓的可能性就更大。

Still, even if cats do not truly understand our moods, the study still suggests that they can pick up on surprisingly nuanced human gestures.

不過，即便貓并不真正理解人的心情，該研究仍然說明貓能夠驚人地察覺人的細微表情。

It also suggests something more basic: they are interested in us.

這也說明另一個基本事實：貓對人感興趣。

"People care about whether cats really do understand and pay attention to their owners," says Vonk. "Our work shows that they may not be as indifferent as people accuse them of being."

“人們關(guān)心貓是不是真的理解主人，關(guān)注主人，”馮克說，“而我們的研究說明，貓并不是像人們指責(zé)的那樣冷漠。”

It may have taken so long to discover cats' emotional intelligence because their responses are rather subtle. As well as obviously "positive" actions like purring or rubbing, Galvan and Vonk noticed that the cats adopted certain body positions, and ear and tail movements, that are associated with contentedness.

之所以人們這么晚才發(fā)現(xiàn)貓的情商，可能是因為它們的反應(yīng)太過細微。貓不僅會作出明顯的“積極”行為，比如發(fā)出咕嚕咕嚕的聲音和蹭人，嘉爾凡和馮克還發(fā)現(xiàn)貓有一些身體姿勢，比如耳朵和尾巴的動作，與滿足有關(guān)。

In contrast, scientists have known for several years that dogs respond differently to happy and angry faces. That is at least partly because their responses are more obvious. A 2011 study showed that dogs will actively avoid someone who appears angry, rather than just changing their body language.

與之相反，科學(xué)家?guī)啄昵熬鸵呀?jīng)知道狗對快樂和憤怒的表情有不同的反應(yīng)。至少部分原因是狗的反應(yīng)更加明顯。2011年的一項研究表明，狗會主動避免看起來正在生氣的人，而不止是改變自己的肢體語言。

The difference between dogs' and cats' responses to human emotions could be rooted in prehistory.

狗和貓對人的感情的不同反應(yīng)可能要追溯到史前時期。

Dogs have been domesticated for a long time. A 2015 genetic study suggested that the process began over 30,000 years ago. In contrast, domestic cats first appeared around 10,000 years ago, probably in the Middle East.

很早以前，人就開始圈養(yǎng)狗。2015年的基因研究表明，這一過程早在3萬年前就開始了。相反，家養(yǎng)貓首次出現(xiàn)是在大約1萬年前的中東地區(qū)。

Dogs' stronger responses to our emotional gestures could have arisen simply because they have had longer to adapt to life with humans.

狗之所以對人的情感有強烈的反應(yīng)，可能就是因為它們適應(yīng)人類生活的時間更長。

But for now it is too early to draw conclusions. While there has been plenty of research into dogs' minds, there have been remarkably few studies of how cats respond to human gestures.

但是，目前下結(jié)論還為時尚早。盡管有很多對狗的大腦的研究，但在關(guān)于貓如何對人的表情做出反應(yīng)，這方面的研究還非常少。

They may be our most popular pet but we still have a lot to learn about them: we do not even know why they purr. But this study might go some way to repairing cats' reputation for being uncaring. It may be that they simply do not show their affection for us as much as dogs do.

貓可能是最受歡迎的寵物，但是我們對它們還知之甚少：我們甚至不知道它們?yōu)槭裁匆l(fā)出咕嚕咕嚕的聲音。但是這項研究可能會挽回貓對人漠不關(guān)心的口碑。有可能僅僅是它們不像狗那么喜歡表露自己的感情而已。