When only a small number of points of light attached to the torso and limbs of a moving organism are visible, the animation correctly conveys the animal's activity. Here we report that newly hatched chicks, reared and hatched in darkness, at their first exposure to point-light animation sequences, exhibit a spontaneous preference to approach biological motion patterns. Intriguingly, this predisposition is not specific for the motion of a hen, but extends to the pattern of motion of other vertebrates, even to that of a potential predator such as a cat. The predisposition seems to reflect the existence of a mechanism in the brain aimed at orienting the young animal towards objects that move semi-rigidly (as vertebrate animals do), thus facilitating learning, i.e., through imprinting, about their more specific features of motion.
Visually inexperienced chicks exhibit a spontaneous preference for biological motion patterns / Vallortigara, Giorgio; Regolin, L.; Marconato, F.. - In: PLOS BIOLOGY. - ISSN 1544-9173. - STAMPA. - 3:7(2005), pp. 1312-1316. [10.1371/journal.pbio.0030208]
Visually inexperienced chicks exhibit a spontaneous preference for biological motion patterns
Vallortigara, Giorgio;
2005-01-01
Abstract
When only a small number of points of light attached to the torso and limbs of a moving organism are visible, the animation correctly conveys the animal's activity. Here we report that newly hatched chicks, reared and hatched in darkness, at their first exposure to point-light animation sequences, exhibit a spontaneous preference to approach biological motion patterns. Intriguingly, this predisposition is not specific for the motion of a hen, but extends to the pattern of motion of other vertebrates, even to that of a potential predator such as a cat. The predisposition seems to reflect the existence of a mechanism in the brain aimed at orienting the young animal towards objects that move semi-rigidly (as vertebrate animals do), thus facilitating learning, i.e., through imprinting, about their more specific features of motion.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Vallortigara et al 2005 Plos Biology.pdf
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