Visual pattern-discrimination in the vertebrates -II. Comparative visual acuity in the dog, the monkey and the chick.
Year: 1914
Type: article
Abstract: In an earlier paper 1 the present writer discussed the question of discrimination of visual detail in animals, in its bearing on other problems of vision, and on that of vision as a factor in evolutionary theories.In attacking experimentally the four elementary problems suggested in that paper, the first question to be settled is, how large must the pattern be, the degree of contrast being given, in order for the animal to distinguish the pattern from a plain field, having the same area, form, range of wave-lengths and luminous intensity as the field on which the pattern appears.This information is necessary before one may safely assume that two patterns to be discriminated one from the other, are both distinguishable as such.The "pattern to be distinguished from the plain field in the present work is simply a series of horizontal black and white striae of equal width with respect to each other, but whose absolute width may be varied by insensible gradations from invisibility to marked coarseness without changing any other stimulus-factor.The writer chose as subjects the dog, the monkey and the chick (Gallus domesticus).The choice was dictated partly by an interest in the relation between visual acuity and the structure of these different types of eyes, and partly by a desire to add further data to those already accumulated by other students in other problems of vision in these animals.The present work (on pattern-vision in general) promises to extend over a considerable period of time, and it seems best to publish the results in a series 1 " Visual Pattern-Discrimination in the Vertebrates."I.
Source: Journal of Animal Behavior
DOI: 10.1037/h0073121
Author: H. M. Johnson
Institution: General Electric (United States)
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1985705156