title: Comparing black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli): use of geometric and featural information in a spatial orientation task.
abstract: Since Cheng (Cognition 23:149-178, 1986) first proposed the "geometric module" in rats, a great deal of research has focused on how other species use geometric information and how geometric encoding may differ across species. Here, hand-reared and wild-caught black-capped chickadees and wild-caught mountain chickadees searched for food hidden in one corner in a rectangular environment. Previous research has shown that mountain chickadees do not spontaneously encode geometric information when a salient feature is present near the goal location. Using a slightly different training and testing procedure, we found that both hand-reared and wild-caught black-capped chickadees encoded geometric information, even in the presence of a salient landmark. Some, but not all, mountain chickadees also encoded geometric information. Overall, our results suggest that use of geometric information may be a less preferred strategy for mountain chickadees than for either wild-caught or hand-reared black-capped chickadees. To our knowledge, this is the first direct interspecies comparison of use of geometric information in a spatial orientation task.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. emily.batty@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Emily R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Batty
authors.forename: Laurie L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Bloomfield
authors.forename: Marcia L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Spetch
authors.forename: Christopher B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Sturdy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D046109:Passeriformes; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013028:Space Perception; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity