Priming of attention to local or global levels of visual analysis.

Traditional models of insect vision have assumed that insects are only capable of low-level analysis of local cues and are incapable of global, holistic perception. However, recent studies on honeybee (Apis mellifera) vision have refuted this view by showing that this insect also processes complex visual information by using spatial configurations or relational rules. In the light of these findings, we asked whether bees prioritize global configurations or local cues by setting these two levels of image analysis in competition. We trained individual freeflying honeybees to discriminate hierarchical visual stimuli within a Y-maze and tested bees with novel stimuli in which local and/or global cues were manipulated. We demonstrate that even when local information is accessible, bees prefer global information, thus relying mainly on the object's spatial configuration rather than on elemental, local information. This preference can be reversed if bees are pre-trained to discriminate isolated local cues. In this case, bees prefer the hierarchical stimuli with the local elements previously primed even if they build an incorrect global configuration. Pre-training with local cues induces a generic attentional bias towards any local elements as local information is prioritized in the test, even if the local cues used in the test are different from the pre-trained ones. Our results thus underline the plasticity of visual processing in insects and provide new insights for the comparative analysis of visual recognition in humans and animals.

show abstract

“…R. Soc. B 282: 20142384 with other stimuli [47,75,76]. In our case, the reversion to local preference was not purely associative (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

The forest or the trees: preference for global over local image processing is reversed by prior experience in honeybees

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…More global, lower spatial frequency cues also play a part, as has been shown by Fremouw, Hebranson, and Shimp (1998) and Goto, Wills, and Lea (2004), and this is confirmed by the evidence of some control by head cues in Experiment 1, and by the smooth generalization to morphed stimuli in Experiment 2. It seems clear that the extent to which local-cue domination occurs will depend on the context, as Fremouw et al (1998) and Cook (2001) have argued, and it may even change dynamically (Fremouw, Hebranson, & Shimp, 2002). The present results suggest that an objective analysis of the high and low spatial frequency information actually available in stimuli might help clarify the circumstances under which local domination will be observed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transfer to Intermediate Forms Following Concept Discrimination by Pigeons: Chimeras and Morphs

Ghosh

Lea

Noury

2004

J Exper Analysis Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two experiments examined pigeons' generalization to intermediate forms following training of concept discriminations. In Experiment 1, the training stimuli were sets of images of dogs and cats, and the transfer stimuli were head/body chimeras, which humans tend to categorize more readily in terms of the head part rather than the body part. In Experiment 2, the training stimuli were sets of images of heads of dogs and cats, and the intermediate stimuli were computer-generated morphs. In both experiments, pigeons learned the concept discrimination quickly and generalized with some decrement to novel instances of the categories. In both experiments, transfer tests were carried out with intermediate forms generated from both familiar and novel exemplars of the training sets. In Experiment 1, the pigeons' transfer performance, unlike that of human infants exposed to similar stimuli, was best predicted by the body part of the stimulus when the chimeras were formed from familiar exemplars. Spatial frequency analysis of the stimuli showed that the body parts were richer in high spatial frequencies than the head parts, so these data are consistent with the hypothesis that categorization is more dependent on local stimulus features in pigeons than in humans. There was no corresponding trend when the chimeras were formed from novel exemplars. In Experiment 2, when morphs of training stimuli were used, response rates declined smoothly as the proportion of the morph contributed by the positive stimulus fell, although results with morphs of novel stimuli were again less orderly.

show abstract

“…It has been demonstrated that both levels of organization are capable of controlling human and non-human behavior (Cavoto and Cook, 2001;Cook, 1992aCook, ,b, 2001Fremouw et al, 1998Fremouw et al, , 2002Kimchi, 1992), but that humans tend to show precedence for global information over the local information (Navon, 1977(Navon, , 1981Ward, 1982), while pigeons have been shown to give temporal precedence to the local features of such stimuli (Cavoto and Cook, 2001, but see Fremouw et al, 2002).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This integrative requirement is of particular importance at the moment because one potential difference that has been identified between human and pigeon perceptual processing concerns how they integrate information and direct attention to the local and global features of hierarchically arranged stimuli (Cavoto and Cook, 2001;Cook, 2001a,b;Fremouw et al, 1998Fremouw et al, , 2002.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian detection and identification of perceptual organization in random noise

Cook

Goto

Brooks

2005

Behavioural Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent research has suggested that pigeons may have difficulty globally integrating visual information in hierarchically arranged stimuli. To isolate and understand the mechanisms responsible for processing emergent perceptual structure, three pigeons were tested in a two alternative choice task that required the global integration of organized local information. They were reinforced for localizing, on randomized distractor backgrounds of black and white square elements, different types of structured targets (e.g., stripes, squares, checkerboards) arranged from these same elements. These hierarchical stimuli were tested at four different levels of spatial granularity (i.e., different element sizes). Experiment 1 found rapid acquisition for the vertical and horizontal stripes or square targets and somewhat slower learning with the checkerboard pattern. Experiment 2 demonstrated successful transfer to a novel target types (alternating bars and "diagonal" stripes). In both experiments, displays with the greatest spatial granularity (smallest elements and most repetitive structure) monotonically supported the best discrimination. These results indicate pigeons can perceive and discriminate emergent visual structure under the right circumstances and suggest they do so with a generalized rule for detecting patterns of non-random perceptual structure. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Keywords: Global perception; Pattern perception; Visual search; Pigeon; Hierarchical stimuli A long standing question in the study of animal visual cognition centers around what mechanisms underlie how animals recognize and locate perceptual objects in their environment and use this information in meeting the daily demands of survival (Cook, 2001a,b).

show abstract

Priming of attention to local or global levels of visual analysis.

Cited by 44 publications

References 50 publications

The forest or the trees: preference for global over local image processing is reversed by prior experience in honeybees

The forest or the trees: preference for global over local image processing is reversed by prior experience in honeybees

Transfer to Intermediate Forms Following Concept Discrimination by Pigeons: Chimeras and Morphs

Avian detection and identification of perceptual organization in random noise

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About