Color vision in marmosets and tamarins: behavioral evidence

Pessoa, Daniel Marques Almeida; Tomaz, Carlos; Pessoa, Valdir Filgueiras

doi:10.1002/ajp.20202

Cited by 28 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This opens up a large range of possibilities for future experiments testing the visual abilities or reef fish, similar to what has been done with goldfish (Neumeyer, 1984;Neumeyer et al, 1991;Neumeyer, 1992). Such associative learning had not been described in marine fish before but has been used to test colour vision in a range of other animals, including insects (Shafir, 1996;Nakamura and Yamashita, 2000;Hempel de Ibarra et al, 2001;Lehrer and Campan, 2004), freshwater fish (Schiemenz, 1924;Neumeyer, 1984;Ohnishi, 1991;Neumeyer, 1992), crustaceans (Marshall et al, 1996), birds (Peiponen, 1992;Swaddle and Johnson, 2007), marsupials (Hemmi, 1999) and primates (Pessoa et al, 2003;Pessoa et al, 2005a;Pessoa et al, 2005b). So it is perhaps not surprising that reef fish also showed the ability for associative learning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Colour vision in coral reef fish

Siebeck

Wallis

Litherland

2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY Over many millions of years, sea creatures have developed a range of light reflectance properties. One example is the large variation in the patterns and colours of fish inhabiting the world's coral reefs. Attempts to understand the significance of the colouration have been made, but all too often from the perspective of a human observer. A more ecological approach requires us to consider the visual system of those for whom the colours were intended, namely other sea life. A first step is to understand the sensitivity of reef fish themselves to colour. Physiological data has revealed wavelength-tuned photoreceptors in reef fish, and this study provides behavioural evidence for their application in colour discrimination. Using classical conditioning,freshly caught damselfish were trained to discriminate coloured patterns for a food reward. Within 3–4 days of capture the fish selected a target colour on over 75% of trials. Brightness of the distracter and target were systematically varied to confirm that the fish could discriminate stimuli on the basis of chromaticity alone. The study demonstrates that reef fish can learn to perform two-alternative discrimination tasks, and provides the first behavioural evidence that reef fish have colour vision.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Colour vision in coral reef fish

Siebeck

Wallis

Litherland

2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Much has been discussed with respect to the differential advantages of dichromats and trichromats in discriminating colored targets, however no consensus has been yet reached. Behavioral studies have categorically publicized that New World trichromats, but not dichromats, discriminate sets of colored lights (Jacobs et al,'87;Tovée et al,'92) and papers (Gomes et al, 2002;Pessoa et al, 2005c;Araújo et al, 2008;Prado et al, 2008), and present advantages relating conspicuous food acquisition in naturalistic conditions (Caine and Mundy, 2000;Smith et al, 2003b). However, with few exceptions (Lucas et al, 2003), behavioral field data have not given enough support to these trichromatic perceptual advantages Smith et al, 2003a;Vogel et al, 2007;Melin et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Detection of fruit by theCerrado's marmoset (Callithrix penicillata): modeling color signals for different background scenarios and ambient light intensities

Perini

Pessoa

2009

J. Exp. Zool.

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Among placental mammals, only primates have trichromatic color vision, however this is not a uniform condition. Under different genetic status, Old World monkeys have routine trichromacy, while New World monkeys show a visual polymorphism, characterized by obligatory male dichromacy. The ecological role of this genetic difference still remains unclear, but some studies show that dichromats and trichromats appear to have different abilities in detecting colored targets against a background of leaves. The Cerrado's marmoset (Callithrix penicillata) is known to forage in brightly illuminated (savanna-like vegetation) and dimly illuminated (forests) environments, exploiting a high amount of dark fruits. Hence, it seems to be a good model for studying the differential advantages enjoyed by each color vision phenotype under natural conditions. Our aim was to verify how the different phenotypes of Cerrado's marmoset detect components of their diet, evaluating the existence of differential phenotype advantages. Under two different light conditions, visual signals of naturally consumed fruits were modeled against different backgrounds scenarios. Even though dichromats and trichromats appear to be equally suited for tasks involving fruit detection, phenotype differential advantages are observed in this marmoset. In many conditions trichromats are predicted to perform better than dichromats, but under low ambient light dichromats manage to outperform trichromats in some scenarios. Phenotypes that carry widely spaced and longer M/L pigments enjoy the most advantage. These differential performances of trichromatic phenotypes, together with overdominance selection, seem to explain the maintenance of the tri-allelic system found in callitrichids.

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“…According to our results on colour discrimination by human dichromats and trichromats, and based on Folia Primatol 2008;79:172-184 what is known about platyrrhines' colour vision, it is plausible to suppose that females SF1, SF2, SF3 and SF4 are trichromats [Pessoa et al, 2005c]. Considering that there may be more than 3 trichromatic phenotypes in Saimiri [Cropp et al, 2002] and that each phenotype could render slightly different colour perceptions, it is possible to think that, since they could only discriminate significantly one 'difficult pair', trichromatic females SF1 and SF4 have narrowly spaced photopigments, as happens in deuteranomaly [Mollon et al, 1984].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural Evidence of Sex-Linked Colour Vision Polymorphism in the Squirrel Monkey Saimiri ustus

Prado

Pessoa²,

Sousa³

et al. 2008

IJFP

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Squirrel monkeys, like most Neotropical primates, display a sex-linked colour vision polymorphism. Here we assess the colour perception of 8 Saimiri ustus by a behavioural paradigm using Munsell colour chips as discriminating stimuli. A random variation in brightness assured that discriminations were based on colour rather than brightness cues. Results indicate that all males showed random performances when presented with stimuli which, in previous experiments with human colour-blind individuals and dichromatic non-human primates, proved to be difficult to discriminate. Females behaved as trichromats. The different phenotypes in S. ustus may offer diverse advantages in feeding ecology and are in agreement with the existence of vision polymorphism, as described for other species of squirrel monkeys.

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Color vision in marmosets and tamarins: behavioral evidence

Cited by 28 publications

References 27 publications

Colour vision in coral reef fish

Colour vision in coral reef fish

Detection of fruit by theCerrado's marmoset (Callithrix penicillata): modeling color signals for different background scenarios and ambient light intensities

Behavioural Evidence of Sex-Linked Colour Vision Polymorphism in the Squirrel Monkey Saimiri ustus

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