University of Sussex
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Symmetry perception by poultry chicks and its implications for three-dimensional object recognition

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 20:32 authored by Elena Mascalzoni, Daniel Colaco OsorioDaniel Colaco Osorio, Lucia Regolin, Giorgio Vallortigara
Bilateral symmetry is visually salient to diverse animals including birds, but whereas experimental studies typically use bilaterally symmetrical two-dimensional patterns that are viewed approximately fronto-parallel; in nature, animals observe three-dimensional objects from all angles. Many animals and plant structures have a plane of bilateral symmetry. Here, we first (experiment I) give evidence that young poultry chicks readily generalize bilateral symmetry as a feature of two-dimensional patterns in fronto-parallel view. We then test the ability of chicks to recognize symmetry in images that would be produced by the transformed view produced by a 40 horizontal combined with a 20 vertical rotation of a pattern on a spherical surface. Experiment II gives evidence that chicks trained to distinguish symmetrical from asymmetrical patterns treat rotated views of symmetrical 'objects' as symmetrical. Experiment III gives evidence that chicks trained to discriminate rotated views of symmetrical 'objects' from asymmetrical patterns generalize to novel symmetrical objects either in fronto-parallel or rotated view. These findings emphasize the importance of bilateral symmetry for three-dimensional object recognition and raise questions about the underlying mechanisms of symmetry perception.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Proceedings B: Biological Sciences

ISSN

1471-2954

Publisher

Royal Society, The

Issue

1730

Volume

279

Page range

841-846

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC