This is scientific Americans 60 second science. I'm Karen Hopkins.

We tend to see house cats as aloof and independent, mostly preferring to engage in their own kitty business.

But that assumption may be littered with error.

Because a new study finds that given a choice,uffy would probably pick you over her favorite toy or treat

The research which might give cat owners pause

A purrs in the journal behavioral processes.

Scientists have analysed what dogs like, and cotton-top tamarins,

Galapagos tortoises, even giant pandas.

But Kristen Vatali Shreve, a grad student at Oregon State University,

realized that no one had ever really put feline predilections to the test.

So Shreve and her team got 25 house cats and stuck each in a room with a set of several

items. In the first round of tests, Kitty's got to spend time with objects in four different

categories.

Toys, like a feather or a stuffed mouse,

odors like a cloth that smells of catnip or a gerbil,

food like tuna or chicken, and a human who would pet them or talk to them or play with them.

In the final round, the top item from each category would be pitted head to head to head

for the title of Kitty's most favorite thing. The results?

Our take-o message is that although each cat displays an individual preference for each item,

Kristen Vatali Shreve, the majority of pet and shelter cats preferred social interaction with a human,

followed next by food, then toys, then sent.

Fully half the cats preferred spending time with people,

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