Abstract

It has been recently reported that young chicks that have received equal exposure to slowly- and fast-rotating objects showed a preference for slowly-rotating objects. This would suggest that visual experience with slowly moving objects is necessary for object recognition in newborns. I attempted to duplicate this finding in newborn chicks using a simple rotating blue cube. No significant preference was found. Using objects similar to the ones used in the previous study (digital embryos), I observed a strong and robust preference for the fast- (not for the slow-) rotating object. To clarify whether the discrepancies with the previous study could be due to the stimuli frame-frequency used (the chicks’ visual system is characterized by high temporal resolution), I repeated the experiments by presenting the stimuli with a lower-frame frequency (from 120 fps to 24 fps). However, similar preferences for the fast-rotating objects were found, this time also for the rotating blue cube. These results suggest a preference for fast-rotating objects that is modulated by the shape and, in part, by the frame-frequency. It remains to be established whether the discrepancies between this study and the previous study can be explained by differences related to strains or artefacts due to the use of monitors with a low-refresh rate.

Details

Title
No evidence of spontaneous preference for slowly moving objects in visually naïve chicks
Author
Lemaire, Bastien S 1 

 Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy (GRID:grid.11696.39) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0351) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2389697912
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.