The article title: Feline Memories Found to be Fleeting is perhaps a little misleading. The study they describe really has no bearing on conscious memories as many readers (at least myself) might deduce.
Instead it has to do with the unconscious memory for the environment that all animals have in order to navigate their bodies through the world. This obscure form of memory is definitely not as sexy as the form of memory that Mr. Nibbles uses when recognizing mummy as she comes through the door after a long day of work.
Basically what they found was that if you distract a cat while they're stepping over an obstacle (say a low wall) after their front legs have cleared it but before their hind legs, then even after the obstacle is removed, the cat will "high step" to avoid it with its hind legs. However, if you distract the cat before it has cleared the obstacle, then the cat will not attempt to clear the obstacle.
I note that the methodology mentions only that they removed the wall in both cases and not that they had tripped cats up by leaving walls in place, which kind of makes me wonder about the whole study (you know, positive control, negative control, blah blah). Besides, the inner Teuton in me wants that tiny bit of schadenfreude that comes with the idea of cats tripping because they didn't remember there was an obstacle in the way after seeing it just seconds before. Kind of like feline slapstick. On that note, the embedded video links to the right have been changed to feline-themes.
Silly study, huh? And they still haven't found a cure for cancer.
