Lots of research assistants will have to lick cats to reach a significant Sigma for proving this statement.
All on-campus cats will be very very confused for a while.
Your petting of them mimics the licking feeling. The sweat on your hands gently pulls the fur, tugging on it, producing a similar sensation as another cat licking that cat.
I wonder. Cat's tongues are pretty rough!
My cat likes 80 grit (gently).
Yup and I often use my 1-3mm chin beard to mimick the licking procedure because I noticed that my cats like it more.
So it's like: wet their forehead with saliva or water => rub with my chin.