Abstract
Mongolian gerbils were trained to jump across gaps of randomly varying width in order to obtain a food reward. During training, gerbils learned to jump to each of two landing platforms differing in width. These landing platforms were associated with unique spatial contexts (Experiment 1), local features (Experiment 2), or both (Experiment 3). In test sessions, a landing platform was substituted that was intermediate in width between the two training platforms of novel width, in order to determine whether gerbils could use retinal image size to calibrate distance. Experiments 1 and 2 suggested that gerbils used spatial context but not local feature information to identify the target platforms. In Experiment 3, when the probe platform was presented with the same local feature information and in the same context as seen in training sessions, gerbils over- or underjumped in a manner predicted if they were using the retinal image size of the target to calibrate the distance across the gap. When the probe trials contained a mismatch between context and local feature information, no systematic over- or under-jumps were seen, and jumping accuracy was decreased. Taken together, these results suggest that, in this task, objects are identified primarily on the basis of the spatial context in which they are seen and not on the basis of their local features.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Baker, A. G., &Emerson, V. F. (1983). Grating acuity of the Mongolian gerbil.Behavioural Brain Research,8, 195–209.
Brodbeck, D. R. (1994). Memory for spatial and local cues: A comparison of a storing and a nonstoring species.Animal Learning & Behavior,22, 119–133.
Cheng, K. (1986). A purely geometric module in the rat’s spatial representation.Cognition,23, 149–178.
Collett, T. S., Cartwright, B. A., &Smith, B. A. (1986). Landmark learning and visuo-spatial memories in gerbils.Journal of Comparative Physiology A,171, 807–815.
Collett, T. S., &Harkness, L. (1981). Depth vision in animals. In D. J. Ingle, M. A. Goodale, & R. J.W. Mansfield (Eds.),The analysis of visual behavior (pp. 111–176). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Dean, P. (1990). Sensory cortex: Visual perceptual functions. In B. Kolb & R. C. Tees (Eds.),The cerebral cortex of the rat (pp. 275–308). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ellard, C. G., &Carey, D. P. (1996).Two cortical visual systems in rodents? Manuscript in preparation.
Ellard, C. G., &Chapman, D. G. (1991). The effects of posterior cor tical lesions on responses to visual threats in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus).Behavioural Brain Research,44, 163–167.
Ellard, C. G., Chapman, D. G., &Cameron, K. A. (1991). Calibration of retinal image size with distance in the Mongolian gerbil: Rapid adjustment of calibrations in different contexts.Perception & Psychophysics,49, 38–42.
Ellard, C. G., &Goodale, M. A. (1991). Computation of absolute distance in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus): Depth algorithms and neural substrates. In M. A. Arbib & J.-P. Ewert (Eds.),Visual structures and integrated functions (pp. 205–219). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Ellard, C. G., Goodale, M. A., MacLaren-Scorfield, D., &Lawrence, C. (1986). Visual cortical lesions abolish the use of motion parallax in the Mongolian gerbil.Experimental Brain Research,64, 599–602.
Ellard, C. G., Goodale, M. A., &Timney, B. (1984). Distance estimation in the Mongolian gerbil: The role of dynamic depth cues.Behavioural Brain Research,14, 29–39.
Ellard, C. G., &Ilkov-Moor, S. (1995). The effects of lesions of anteromedial cortex on a ballistic visuomotor task in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus).Behavioural Brain Research,68, 53–56.
Epstein, W., &Baratz, S. S. (1964). Relative size in isolation as a stimulus for relative perceived distance.Journal of Experimental Psychology,67, 507–513.
Fodor, J. A. (1983).The modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gallistel, C. R. (1990).The organization of learning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Goodale, M. A., &Carey, D. P. (1990). The role of cerebral cortex in visuomotor control. In B. Kolb & R. C. Tees (Eds.),The cerebral cortex of the rat (pp. 309–340). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Goodale, M. A., Ellard, C. G., &Booth, L. (1990). The role of image size and retinal motion in the computation of absolute distance by the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus).Vision Research,30, 399–413.
Ingle, D. J. (1981). New methods for analysis of vision in the gerbil.Behavioural Brain Research,3, 151–174.
Long, A. (1994).The effect of strobe illumination on jumping performance in the Mongolian gerbil. Unpublished honours thesis, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Rescorla, R. A., &Wagner, A. R. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: Variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In A. H. Black & W. F. Prokasy (Eds.),Classical conditioning: II. Current research and theory (pp. 64–99). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Sutherland, R. J., &Rudy, J. W. (1989). Configural association theory: The role of the hippocampal formation in learning, memory, and amnesia.Psychobiology,17, 129–144.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by a grant to C.G.E. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The authors wish to thank David Carey for valuable criticisms of an earlier version of this study and Katherine Anderson and Myra Fernandes for their careful collection of some of the data.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ellard, C.G., Bigel, M.G. The use of local features and global spatial context for object recognition in a visuomotor task in the Mongolian gerbil. Animal Learning & Behavior 24, 310–317 (1996). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198979
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198979