Video Display for Study of Avian Visual Cognition: From Psychophysics to Sign Language

Abstract

We demonstrated four different ways of using video systems for research in avian visual cognition: 1) recent developments of high vision TV systems made it possible to use the video system for psychophysical studies. Visual acuity measured with such a video system was comparable to those obtained by more traditional methods; 2) using image processing software, we could display unnatural animals, such as chimeras on the TV screen. We also reported that pigeons did not discriminate partially occluded conspecifics; 3) effects of exposure to visual stimuli upon on-going behavior were examined using suppression and conditioned suppression procedures; and 4) discrimination of moving images, namely two words of Japanese Sign Language, are reported.