--- description: Cats may be just as intelligent as dogs (and humans), according to a new memory study from Japanese researchers. title: Cats Are Just as Smart as Dogs, Study Suggests image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38f12b918f5cc0d5/6988b76e5f570f3596b23e19/cat-intelligent-memory-dogs-study-japan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Cats Are Just as Smart as Dogs, Study Suggests  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 26, 2017 7:37 PM CUT  Cat unsurprised by study's findings Cat unsurprised by study's findingskvkirillov—Getty Images/iStockphoto  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 26, 2017 7:37 PM CUT Cats [may be just as smart](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38665057 "undefined") as dogs (and humans), [a new study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635716303242 "undefined") suggests. Japanese scientists tested to see if 49 domestic cats could remember which containers they ate food out of following a 15-minute delay, and said container was emptied, according to the study’s abstract. Having an episodic memory is often associated with having a degree of self-awareness, and separate researchers had already determined that dogs displayed use of an episodic memory. The results revealed that cats could “retrieve and utilize \[the\] ‘what’ and ‘where’ information” they encoded from a single past event; in this case, the container they ate from. The researchers also said cats performed comparably to dogs in tests about understanding human gestures and facial expressions, the [_BBC_ ](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38665057 "undefined")reports. “Understanding cats more deeply helps to establish better cat-human relationships,” study author Saho Takagi, a psychologist at Kyoto University, told BBC. “…Cats may be as intelligent as dogs, as opposed to the common view of people that dogs are much smarter.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4650638/cats-dogs-memory/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4650638/cats-dogs-memory/"},"headline":"Cats Are Just as Smart as Dogs, Study Suggests","datePublished":"2017-01-26T19:37:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:58:42.481Z","description":"They could just be pretending not to remember things (or you)","url":"https://time.com/4650638/cats-dogs-memory/","keywords":["animals","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38f12b918f5cc0d5/6988b76e5f570f3596b23e19/cat-intelligent-memory-dogs-study-japan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38f12b918f5cc0d5/6988b76e5f570f3596b23e19/cat-intelligent-memory-dogs-study-japan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"cat intelligent memory dogs study japan","caption":"cat intelligent memory dogs study japan","creditText":"kvkirillov—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4650638/cats-dogs-memory/","name":"Cats Are Just as Smart as Dogs, Study Suggests"}}]}] ```