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Melody matters: An acoustic study of domestic cat meows in six contexts and four mental states

Schötz, Susanne LU orcid ; van de Weijer, Joost LU orcid and Eklund, Robert (2019) VIHAR-2019 p.29-34
Abstract
This study investigates domestic cat vocalisations in different contexts and mental states. Measures of fundamental frequency (f0) and duration as well as f0 contours of 780 meows from 40 cats were analysed. We found significant effects of recording context and of mental state on f0 and duration. Additionally, contours in positive (affiliative) contexts and mental states were predominantly rising, while those produced in negative contexts and mental states were predominantly falling. Our results suggest that cats use paralinguistic information and biological codes to signal mental state.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Proc. 2nd Intl. Workshop on Vocal interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots (VIHAR)
editor
Dassow, Angela ; Marxer, Ricard ; Moore, Roger K. and Stowell, Dan
pages
29 - 34
publisher
Ricard Marxer
conference name
VIHAR-2019
conference location
London, United Kingdom
conference dates
2019-08-29 - 2019-08-30
ISBN
978-2-9562029-1-2
project
Melody in human–cat communication
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0ecc1469-5187-42d8-b367-dced06c9cf4d
alternative location
http://vihar-2019.vihar.org/assets/VIHAR_2019_proceedings.pdf
date added to LUP
2019-09-16 17:02:03
date last changed
2023-09-20 02:31:45
@inproceedings{0ecc1469-5187-42d8-b367-dced06c9cf4d,
  abstract     = {{This study investigates domestic cat vocalisations in different contexts and mental states. Measures of fundamental frequency (f0) and duration as well as f0 contours of 780 meows from 40 cats were analysed. We found significant effects of recording context and of mental state on f0 and duration. Additionally, contours in positive (affiliative) contexts and mental states were predominantly rising, while those produced in negative contexts and mental states were predominantly falling. Our results suggest that cats use paralinguistic information and biological codes to signal mental state.}},
  author       = {{Schötz, Susanne and van de Weijer, Joost and Eklund, Robert}},
  booktitle    = {{Proc. 2nd Intl. Workshop on Vocal interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots (VIHAR)}},
  editor       = {{Dassow, Angela and Marxer, Ricard and Moore, Roger K. and Stowell, Dan}},
  isbn         = {{978-2-9562029-1-2}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  pages        = {{29--34}},
  publisher    = {{Ricard Marxer}},
  title        = {{Melody matters: An acoustic study of domestic cat meows in six contexts and four mental states}},
  url          = {{http://vihar-2019.vihar.org/assets/VIHAR_2019_proceedings.pdf}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}