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From: wiebe@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Anne Hill Wiebe)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Re: The six senses of a cat
Message-ID: <2466@ut-ngp.UTEXAS>
Date: Wed, 9-Oct-85 17:26:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-ngp.2466
Posted: Wed Oct  9 17:26:04 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Oct-85 03:43:39 EDT
References: <160@cadsys.UUCP>
Organization: UTexas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
Lines: 42


Cats certainly can see stationary objects.  I did some research 
as an undergraduate on the vision of cats, for an introductory
experimental psychology course.  I used my own two sweet kitties,
:-) and they loved it!  I was trying to determine whether cats 
could see and interpret images they see in mirrors.

Library research shows a LOT of experimental evidence (as if we
cat-lovers really needed it) that cats can see stationary objects;
they are frequently asked to learn to approach black-and-white
striped backgrounds and avoid black-and-white polka-dot backgrounds,
for example.  They learn this rather well and quickly.  (The way
you teach this is to reward them with a treat when they approach
the background you're trying to teach them to approach.)

I did the same thing using the treats in front of such painted
backgrounds - definitely nonmoving - but the cat could only see
it reflected in mirrors.  She had to choose which way to go to
get to a treatbowl she could see in the mirror.  Both the striped
and the dotted backgrounds had treatbowls, and both contained treats
which she could smell (a bit of canned tuna); but the treat in front
of the dotted background had a lid with holes punched in it; she 
wouldn't be able to eat it, only smell it.

Both of my cats learned within a few days (ten trial runs a day,
no other food - yes, they got plenty to eat) to choose a striped
background.  Long story, please forgive - but believe me, this was 
a *very* carefully controlled experiment, following up on much 
other such research, showing cats learning to respond to visual
stimuli that didn't move.

On colorblindness - the same literature shows that cats CAN see
colors, they CAN be taught to distinguish them.  It takes months
of training for them to learn it, though; so the first research
on it concluded they cannot see colors.  It's as if they had to
learn to pay attention to something they'd never considered before.
(Those experiments must have been very frustrating for the cats
and the researchers alike!)

Sorry this is so long - but if you're interested in learning more,
I suggest Psychological Abstracts, under Cats.  The vision of cats
has been studied quite a bit.