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Perceptual grouping and detection of trial-unique emergent structures by pigeons

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Abstract

Detecting global patterns in the environment is essential to object perception and recognition. Consistent with this, pigeons have been shown to readily detect and locate geometrically arranged, structured targets embedded in randomized backgrounds. Here we show for the first time that pigeons can detect and localize trial-unique targets derived solely from global patterns resulting from periodicity, symmetry and their combination using randomly generated segments of black and white local elements. The results indicate pigeons can perceptually segment and detect a wide variety of emergent global structures and do so even when they are unique to each trial. The perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying this discrimination likely play important roles in the abilities of how pigeons, and likely other birds, detect and categorize the properties of natural objects at different spatial scales.

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The data is available at https://osf.io/63wj7/.

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Funding

The preparation of this research was supported by funds from Tufts University to R.G. Cook. Additional support was provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (#0316016) to R.G. Cook. K. Goto was supported by the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fellowship from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis and a Study Visit Grant by the British Psychology Society and the Experimental Psychology Society, UK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, USA

    Daniel I. Brooks & Robert G. Cook

  2. Sagami Women’s University, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

    Kazuhiro Goto

Authors
  1. Daniel I. Brooks
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  2. Robert G. Cook
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  3. Kazuhiro Goto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert G. Cook.

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Conflict of interest

Kazuhiro Goto is an Associate Editor of Animal Cognition. Daniel Brooks declares that he has no conflicts of interest. Robert Cook declares that he has no conflicts of interest. Kazuhiro Goto declares that he has no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. The Tufts University IACUC reviewed and approved the research protocol for this research.

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Brooks, D.I., Cook, R.G. & Goto, K. Perceptual grouping and detection of trial-unique emergent structures by pigeons. Anim Cogn 25, 717–729 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01586-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01586-1

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