Do Cats Remember Stuff...?

 We've had our cat for several years. He was just a little ball of fluff when we rescued him as a kitten...we did not know he'd grow to be a 20 lb huge ball of fluff. Sam Dean Winchester stays in the basement. He's not an outdoor cat. We kept him inside at our last home, and since mountain lions have been spotted in our neighborhood, we feel good about keeping him inside.

Our oldest son moved out and got married a few years ago. He loves pets and pets love him. One thing our cat used to do was jump up into our son's arms, many times on command. A few weeks ago, our son came over and he wanted to say hi to the cat so he went downstairs and the cat, once again, sprang into my son's arms.

It made me wonder...

Just how much do cats remember?

Does he remember our son? Does he remember it's okay to jump into his arms when he's around? I'm sure there are volumes of data out there on the memory retention of cats. Have I read them? Have I done any research? No. It's just a question I have. 

It's possible the cat would love to jump into others arms, but our son is the only one who allows it. Then again, maybe the cat remembers him as being the only one to get that kind of greeting. Maybe one day I'll find out for sure, but for now, it's kind of fun to keep wondering.