- The lowest level on the scale consists of assessing an animal's ability to establish a relationship between two events or between one event and the response that it is supposed to give.This in itself is learning at varying degrees of complexity.- The highest level consists of subjecting the cat to a series of problems (finding food, for example), that are all different, but that have one point in common that it can latch onto if it discovers it. The experiment therefore measures how long it takes for the cat to improve its performance and to stop making errors in situations that are different each time. There are many variations on this test and in particular, one called the "inversion" test.
Food is hidden under one of two objects first, then under the other. This test can also be done with three objects, which makes it particularly difficult.
The alternation between the two objects is always the same during the various problems to which the cat is successively exposed. If it shows an improvement in his performance during the last series of tests, it is clear that it has grasped the common element in all these problems.
Another series of tests consists of asking the animal to find means of obtaining food. In the case of a chimpanzee, for example, boxes are stacked up so that it may climb on top of them and reach a bunch of bananas.
Motivation is sometimes a problem when it comes to experiments with cats. When they are in their natural environment, we observe very elaborate behaviors. For example, Nounours, the European cat, had been designated by its four housemates to jump from the table onto the refrigerator and with a swipe of the paw, knock the package of dry food on the ground for the enjoyment of the other cats who were then able to calmly eat it. Nounours was also in charge of opening the door, a task at which it excelled.
Despite the inherent limits to their validity, all these tests and trials help establish a system to rank the degree of animal intelligence. Ranked at the top are primates and Rhesus monkeys, with cats falling somewhere in the upper average.
Log in
