Entry #152

Attachment style refers to an animal or human's ability to use the presence of someone they are bonded with as a form of comfort which facilitates the reduction of stress in stress-related events and increases exploration. The secure-base test evaluates attachment security by undergoing two minutes with a caregiver, two minutes alone, then two minutes in a reunion phase. In both the alone and the reunion phase, many cats made vocalizations directed toward their human caretakers. We are analyzing the acoustics of cat vocalizations from the secure-base test, including the fundamental frequency (F0) which is perceived as pitch, duration, and other parameters. I hypothesize that calls with a higher, more variable F0 and longer duration will be more present in ambivalent and secure cats which display heightened negative states of arousal during the alone phase, while avoidant cats will have lower F0 and a shorter call duration thus representing lower states of arousal. I predict, however, that ambivalent and secure cats will differ in responses upon the return of the owner, where secure cats will have low-F0, short calls, while ambivalent cats will maintain somewhat the same as when they were alone.