Memory Spans in Dogs: What This Cat Knows For Sure! (What was I saying?)

  Posted on March 6, 2015  by Joy of Living  No comments

Hey, guys! It’s me, Party Marty, once again gracing this blog with my undeniable presence. The cool cat is back with plenty to say, so pay heed all who read!

As I was updating my online dating profile the other night (don’t laugh!), some information in the form of an article posted by AOL distracted me. It was about pets and short term memory. I was intrigued, as I know that cats rule when it comes to brain power. I read up on a study conducted by Johan Lind of Stockholm University (I have no idea who he is or where that is, but it all sounds important!), and was fascinated to learn that when it comes to very short, short-term memory spans, dogs and most other animals can only remember things for about 27 seconds. Lind noted that “animals have no long-term memory of arbitrary events.” Lind and his team studied almost 100 data set results from a memory test of recent events that was given to animals across 25 species. This test even included results from birds and bees! (And who knows what they were trying to remember!) Dogs could remember events up to two minutes, at best. And chimpanzees could only recall events for about 20 seconds, which apparently is a shorter capacity than that of a rat! Who knew? While there was no specific information pertaining to cats, I did a bit of research on my own, and while some figures vary, according to canidae.com, the memory of cats is thought to be 200 TIMES better than that of a dog! No surprise there. However, apparently we felines are rather selective about what we remember. So, if I forgot your birthday, my bad! Our short-term memory capacity can evidently last up to 16 hours, though, so if it is true that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” actually holds some truth, then don’t bring me along unless you plan to be there for more than a day! Just sayin’…

That’s all for now. I have work to do…I think…I can’t remember…I wrote my “to do” list a couple of days ago. I guess I have nothing to do now. That sounds about right!