Differential effects of spatial separation on visual feature binding in humans and pigeons(Summary of Awarded Presentation at the 29th Annual Meeting)

抄録

We examined the mechanisms of visual feature binding in humans and pigeons, two visually dominant vertebrates that use different neural substrates for feature processing. In Experiment 1, we examined how humans and pigeons bind color and line orientation. Subjects were trained to search for a target among distractors consisting of horizontal and vertical lines. In the feature condition, one of the target lines was a different color than the distractors. In the binding condition, the target and distractors were characterized by different combinations of colors and orientations. Both species located the target faster under the feature condition compared with the binding condition, suggesting that binding requires focal attention in both species. In Experiment 2, we examined the effects of spatial separation on visual feature binding. The target and distractors consisted of two horizontally aligned colored lines. The distance between the two lines had little effect on target localization in humans, whereas the process was hampered in pigeons. These results may reflect differences in the neural substrates of these species.