Social and emotional cognition in cats

Social cognition is a process that starts when a cat reacts to external stimuli and the emotion emitted by its owner. So, if you have a cat, it is very important to analyze your cat’s reaction to human emotions, because if your cat is able to adjust its behavior then the level of intelligence increases significantly. For example, if you pretend that you are afraid of a certain object or toy and your cat acts similarly after feeling your reaction, your pet is actually smarter than you thought. 

“If the owner’s afraid, is the cat behind the owner, looking nervously at the item? If the owner’s happy, is the cat next to him or her, trying to interact and looking at the item?” said Vitale.