Forest before the trees in the aquatic world: global and local processing in teleost fishes
Background The study of illusory phenomena is important to understanding the similarities and differences between mammals and birds’ perceptual systems. In recent years, the analysis has been enlarged to include cold-blooded vertebrates, such as fish. However, evidence collected in the literature ha...
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PeerJ Inc.
2020-09-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/9871.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797417941362278400 |
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| author | Maria Santacà Maria Elena Miletto Petrazzini Marco Dadda Christian Agrillo |
| author_facet | Maria Santacà Maria Elena Miletto Petrazzini Marco Dadda Christian Agrillo |
| author_sort | Maria Santacà |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background The study of illusory phenomena is important to understanding the similarities and differences between mammals and birds’ perceptual systems. In recent years, the analysis has been enlarged to include cold-blooded vertebrates, such as fish. However, evidence collected in the literature have drawn a contradictory picture, with some fish species exhibiting a human-like perception of visual illusions and others showing either a reversed perception or no susceptibility to visual illusions. The possibility exists that these mixed results relate to interspecific variability in perceptual grouping mechanisms. Therefore, we studied whether fish of five species exhibit a spontaneous tendency to prioritize a global analysis of the visual scene—also known as global-to-local precedence—instead of focusing on local details. Methods Using Navon-like stimuli (i.e., larger recognisable shapes composed of copies of smaller different shapes), we trained redtail splitfin, zebrafish, angelfish, Siamese fighting fish and three spot gourami to discriminate between two figures characterized by congruency between global and local information (a circle made by small circles and a cross made by small crosses). In the test phase, we put global and local cues (e.g., a circle made by small crosses) into contrast to see whether fish spontaneously rely on global or local information. Results Like humans, fish seem to have an overall global-to-local precedence, with no significant differences among the species. However, looking at the species-specific level, only four out of five species showed a significant global-to-local precedence, and at different degrees. Because these species are distantly related and occupy a broad spectrum of ecological adaptations, we suggest that the tendency to prioritize a global analysis of visual inputs may be more similar in fish than expected by the mixed results of visual illusion studies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:25:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-683bd0facfe44193a419226c3083c72b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:25:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-683bd0facfe44193a419226c3083c72b2023-12-03T11:19:38ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592020-09-018e987110.7717/peerj.9871Forest before the trees in the aquatic world: global and local processing in teleost fishesMaria Santacà0Maria Elena Miletto Petrazzini1Marco Dadda2Christian Agrillo3Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, ItaliaDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, ItaliaDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, ItaliaDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, ItaliaBackground The study of illusory phenomena is important to understanding the similarities and differences between mammals and birds’ perceptual systems. In recent years, the analysis has been enlarged to include cold-blooded vertebrates, such as fish. However, evidence collected in the literature have drawn a contradictory picture, with some fish species exhibiting a human-like perception of visual illusions and others showing either a reversed perception or no susceptibility to visual illusions. The possibility exists that these mixed results relate to interspecific variability in perceptual grouping mechanisms. Therefore, we studied whether fish of five species exhibit a spontaneous tendency to prioritize a global analysis of the visual scene—also known as global-to-local precedence—instead of focusing on local details. Methods Using Navon-like stimuli (i.e., larger recognisable shapes composed of copies of smaller different shapes), we trained redtail splitfin, zebrafish, angelfish, Siamese fighting fish and three spot gourami to discriminate between two figures characterized by congruency between global and local information (a circle made by small circles and a cross made by small crosses). In the test phase, we put global and local cues (e.g., a circle made by small crosses) into contrast to see whether fish spontaneously rely on global or local information. Results Like humans, fish seem to have an overall global-to-local precedence, with no significant differences among the species. However, looking at the species-specific level, only four out of five species showed a significant global-to-local precedence, and at different degrees. Because these species are distantly related and occupy a broad spectrum of ecological adaptations, we suggest that the tendency to prioritize a global analysis of visual inputs may be more similar in fish than expected by the mixed results of visual illusion studies.https://peerj.com/articles/9871.pdfVisual hierarchical stimuliGestaltComparative perceptionNavon testTeleost fish |
| spellingShingle | Maria Santacà Maria Elena Miletto Petrazzini Marco Dadda Christian Agrillo Forest before the trees in the aquatic world: global and local processing in teleost fishes PeerJ Visual hierarchical stimuli Gestalt Comparative perception Navon test Teleost fish |
| title | Forest before the trees in the aquatic world: global and local processing in teleost fishes |
| title_full | Forest before the trees in the aquatic world: global and local processing in teleost fishes |
| title_fullStr | Forest before the trees in the aquatic world: global and local processing in teleost fishes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Forest before the trees in the aquatic world: global and local processing in teleost fishes |
| title_short | Forest before the trees in the aquatic world: global and local processing in teleost fishes |
| title_sort | forest before the trees in the aquatic world global and local processing in teleost fishes |
| topic | Visual hierarchical stimuli Gestalt Comparative perception Navon test Teleost fish |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/9871.pdf |
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