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Perception of illusory surfaces and contours in goldfish
Goldfish (Carassius auratus) were trained to discriminate triangles and squares using a two choice procedure. In the first experiment, three goldfish were trained with food reward on a black outline triangle on a white background, while a black outline square was shown for comparison. In transfer te...
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Published in: | Visual neuroscience 2007-05, Vol.24 (3), p.291-298 |
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Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Goldfish (Carassius auratus) were trained to discriminate
triangles and squares using a two choice procedure. In the first
experiment, three goldfish were trained with food reward on a black
outline triangle on a white background, while a black outline square was
shown for comparison. In transfer tests, a Kanizsa triangle and a Kanizsa
square were presented, perceived by humans as an illusory triangle- or
square-shaped surface of slightly higher brightness than the background.
The choice behavior in this situation indicates that goldfish are able to
discriminate between both figures in almost the same way as in the
training situation. In control experiments goldfish did not discriminate
between shapes in which humans do not perceive the illusion. A series of
generalization experiments was performed indicating the similarity between
the tested shapes and the training triangle. From all these findings we
conclude that goldfish are able to perceive an illusory triangle or square
within the Kanizsa figures. In a second experiment, four goldfish were
trained on a white outline triangle versus a white outline
square, both on black background with white diagonal lines. In transfer
tests in which the shapes were replaced by gaps within the white diagonal
lines, goldfish were clearly able to discriminate between the two patterns
based on the illusory contours. This was not the case in tranfer tests
with phase shifted abutting lines. |
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ISSN: | 0952-5238 1469-8714 |
DOI: | 10.1017/S095252380707023X |