Abstract
When humans process visual stimuli, global information often takes precedence over local information. In contrast, some recent studies have pointed to a local precedence effect in both pigeons and nonhuman primates. In the experiment reported here, we compared the speed of acquisition of two different categorizations of the same four geometric figures. One categorization was on the basis of a local feature, the other on the basis of a readily apparent global feature. For both humans and pigeons, the global-feature categorization was acquired more rapidly. This result reinforces the conclusion that local information does not always take precedence over global information in nonhuman animals.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to David Taylor for the construction of the test chambers, to Peter Goodes for the maintenance of the test chambers and to Catriona Ryan for technical support. Housing of the animals and conduct of the experiments conformed to the requirements of the UK Animals (Scientific Purposes) Act, 1986 and University and departmental guidelines. Departmental ethical requirements in respect of human participants were followed.
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Goto, K., Wills, A.J. & Lea, S.E.G. Global-feature classification can be acquired more rapidly than local-feature classification in both humans and pigeons. Anim Cogn 7, 109–113 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-003-0193-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-003-0193-8