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In reply to the discussion: Cats vs dogs: Scientists confirm that felines are better... from an evolutionary perspective [View all]Igel
(35,191 posts)And one recent bit included some odd comments as part of its lit review because it applied to their study.
They couldn't get a random sample for cats. They started with one--I even forget what they were testing--but a certain number of cats just didn't play along. "Here kitty, here's your stimulus!" would be met by a cold stare and the cat would go to sleep or wander off. Reward as motivation? Meh.
At that point you had to ask, as a researcher: Did they just stare because they're stupid or because they were uninterested? Most of the time "no response" was interpreted as "stupid." But a few days later the cats who were too stupid to do anything suddenly were able to do a lot. So the researchers in that article decided to ignore zoned-out cats. Again, assumptions --> results.
Dogs? Give them the reward, they do what you want. You can pick 30 dogs and have almost all of them do the tests. Consistently. Pick 30 cats and who knows what you'll get today. And if you'll be able to have a second run with the same cats tomorrow.