title: Perception of emergent configurations in humans (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).
abstract: We examined the perceptions of emergent configurations in humans and chimpanzees using a target-localization task. The stimulus display consisted of a target placed among multiple identical distractors. The target and distractors were presented either solely, within congruent contexts in which salient configurations emerge, or within incongruent contexts in which salient configurations do not emerge. We found that congruent contexts had similar facilitative effects on target localization by humans and chimpanzees, whereas similar disruptive effects emerged when the stimuli were presented within incongruent contexts. When display size was manipulated, targets under the congruent-context condition were localized in a parallel manner, but those under the no-context and incongruent-context conditions were localized in a serial manner by both species. These results suggest that both humans and chimpanzees perceive emergent configurations when targets and distractors are presented within certain congruent contexts and that they process such emergent configurations preattentively.
authors.affiliation: Keio University, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan. kgoto@psy.flet.keio.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imura
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomonaga
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time; D012858:Size Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities