A later study, done in 2014, looked at whether or not unrelated human listeners were able to judge if meows occurred in scenarios the cats would consider negative or positive. In this study the researchers tested recordings of meows related to feeding times versus those recorded while waiting to visit a veterinarian. The food related meows were characterized by rising tonal patterns while the vet related meows had falling tonal patterns. The human listeners were able to correctly identify the context 65% of the time, for those listeners who had experience with cats the percentage rose to 70%.
Generally, with cats and other animals, including humans, vocalizations that are associated with fear or affiliation tend to be higher and more tonal where vocalizations associated with aggression tend to be lower in frequency and not tonal. Think growl versus meow.
As to how the human brain responds to positive and negative vocalizations, a 2008 study looked at MRI results when humans are exposed positive and negative vocalizations of rhesus monkeys and cats compared to similar contexts for human vocalizations. When asked to identify the animal vocalizations, the humans responded correctly 67% of the time for positive contexts and 71% for negative, compared to 78% for positive human contexts and 70% for negative.
The researchers found differences in the human brain response to negative and positive vocalizations in the areas of the brain that are associated with auditory processes as opposed to emotional and decision making processes. There was a greater response in the secondary auditory cortex to negative vocalizations (these vocalizations tend to be of longer duration) and a greater response in the region of the brain (orbitofrontal cortex or OFC) associated with emotional response, in this region of the brain, there was no difference in whether the response was to human or animal vocalizations. This suggests that even when we may not be consciously aware of what the message may be from a sender we are aware of it on another level of processing and no doubt respond to it in some way (perhaps why we're buying all those different cat food flavors each time we shop).
A study launched in 2016, aims to record and analyze hundreds of cats and their vocalizations to humans in their home environments in different regions of Sweden for prosodic patterns or patterns of rhythm and pattern found in language. Is "cat speak" influenced by the dialects or language patterns of humans? Well, if they are talking to us in the first place, it is entirely possible. For cats, the researchers are looking to isolate distinct patterns of intonation, length, intensity and voice quality in various contexts as well as whether these variables are shifted as the contexts shifts or what are the cats "saying" and when, further evidence that the cats themselves are aware of what messages are contained in their human directed vocalizations.
While, there is no disagreement that cats have learned to produce different meows directed at humans for different purposes there is not an agreement that all cats know what they are saying. In this study, the researchers point out, cat expert, John Bradshaw's belief that meows are: "an arbitrary, learned, attention-seeking sound rather than some universal cat– human ‘language.’” In other words, each cat learns how to meow individually to each human. The study author's contend in response: "If each cat and owner develop their own arbitrary vocal communication codes, other humans would be less able to identify meows uttered by unfamiliar cats." Good point and why the authors are also hoping to determine if most cats are using similar vocalization patterns and if experienced human listeners are responding to them.
The authors have additionally proposed testing how responsive "baby talk" is with cats. This sort of speech pattern tends to utilize a higher pitch which is more effective with dogs than with cats. For cats with exquisite hearing being their primary sense, it is best to appeal to it softly. Professionals working directly with cats recommend using your "elevator voice" around cats. There's a reason the melodic tones of classical music benefit cats as opposed to the more discordant types of music like heavy metal.
Further evidence that cats have developed more effective ways to communicate with humans are helpful for science. Additional research is needed to identify if adult cats do vocalize to each other in cat colonies with human caretakers, especially those where social relationships exists including shared parental care, common among related felines. And how much meowing is going compared to other vocalizations in those cat-human households where cats are allowed regular outside hunting forays.
For practical purposes, the careful and experienced listener and observer already knows that cats do communicate with humans. The resourceful cat with a rich inventory of scent to pick up on as well as leave behind and body language, including significant eye, ear, tail and whisker positioning has already figured out that as visual as we are we are not visual enough to "read" cat and has met us on common ground - vocalizations. Use your soft "elevator voice: and remember, the next time your cat says something to you, give it the favor of a response, start with a soft verbal acknowledgement including their name and then take a look around to figure just what it is they are asking you to "listen" to.
References:
McComb, K., A.M. Taylor, Wilson, C., B.D. Charlton (2009). The cry embedded within the purr. Current Biology. 19. R507-R508.
Nicastro, N. (2004). Perceptual and Acoustic Evidence for Species-Level Differences in Meow Vocalizations by Domestic Cats (Felis catus) and African Wild Cats (Felis silvestris lybica). Journal of Comparative Psychology. 118, 287-296.
Schötz, S., & van de Weijer, J. (2014). A Study of Human Perception of Intonation in Domestic Cat Meows. In M. Heldner (Ed.), Proceedings from Fonetik 2014. 89-94. Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University.
Belin, Pascal & Fecteau, Shirley & Charest, Ian & Nicastro, Nicholas & Hauser, Marc & L Armony, Jorge. (2008). Human cerebral response to animal affective vocalizations. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society. 275. 473-81.
Schötz, S., Eklund, R. & van de Weijer, J. (2016). Melody in Human–Cat Communication (Meowsic): Origins, Past, Present and Future, Proceedings from Fonetik 2016. Speech, Music and Hearing, KTH, Stockholm
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