Dynamic object individuation in rhesus macaques: a study of the tunnel effect.
A manual-search experiment with rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) explored dynamic object individuation in the tunnel effect: Subjects watched as a lemon rolled down a ramp and came to rest behind a tunnel (Occluder 1) and then as a kiwifruit emerged and became occluded at the end of its path behind a screen (Occluder 2). When the kiwifruit emerged at about the time that the lemon should have (had it continued its motion), subjects searched for food only behind Occluder 2-apparently perceiving the lemon to have transformed into a kiwifruit on the basis of spatiotemporally continuous motion. In contrast, when a brief pause interrupted the occlusion of the lemon and the emergence of the kiwifruit, monkeys searched for food behind both occluders. With further control conditions, this experiment demonstrates a spatiotemporal bias-similar to a bias found in adult visual perception-in the computation of object persistence in the context of a dynamic correspondence problem.
Flombaum
Jonathan I
JI
Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. jonathan.flombaum@yale.edu
Kundey
Shannon M
SM
Santos
Laurie R
LR
Scholl
Brian J
BJ
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*