What do cats see? (2)

After extensive research (well a quick Google trawl, actually) I have managed to answer some of my questions about how my cats might see me. There are two parts to this.
(1) The actual physical aspect of the eye which govern sight or vision; and (2) the neurological aspects that govern how vision is interpreted in the brain.

Eyes
Humans, as primates, are adapted to a diurnal, tree-dwelling, plant and fruit foraging niche which requires good colour detail and depth perception. Sight is a primate’s most important sense. Felines on the other hand are essentially nocturnal predators for whom colour vision and fine detail are not as important as the ability to detect the movement of prey in dim and changing light conditions. A cat’s senses of smell and hearing are also much more acute than those of humans.

The Brain
Humans recognise other humans primarily by sight, in particular through the recognition of an individual’s unique facial features. Studies on infants have found that facial recognition is an innate behaviour and there are specialised structures in the human brain which deal with the processing of facial recognition. Primates are essentially social animals that live in family groupings within a home territory. The recognition of members of a group as opposed to outsiders is an important adaptation for the defence of territory and the resources within it.

Felines (with the exception of lions) tend to be solitary as adults with territories defined through scent marking. It would be interesting to see if lions perceive individuals differently from other felines. Certainly anyone who has seen the video of Christian the lion greeting his two human “parents” can see that he clearly remembered and recognised them.

Conclusion
My cats can’t see me the way a human can – it is just not physically possible for them. They probably see me as a mobile object – that feeds them. That and the fact that my younger cats haven’t come into contact with a wide variety of human-shaped objects may explain their nervous behaviour with strangers and swishy pants.

References

Dr. Christianne.Schelling - Cat Health Topics: Feline Special Senses Visionhttp://www.cathealth.com/CatEyes.htmCat - 2005

Facial recognition vs object recognition
G. Lovell, Face Recognition, Tutorial Handouts, "Cognitiove Psychology" Course, University of Stirling, UK
http://www.face-rec.org/