Object-based attention in chimpanzees
(Pan troglodytes)Ushitani, T., Imura, T., & Tomonaga, M. We conducted three experiments to investigate how object-based
components contribute to the attentional processes of chimpanzees and to
examine how such processes operate with regard to perceptually
structured objects. In Experiment 1, chimpanzees responded to a spatial
cueing task that required them to touch a target appearing at either end
of two parallel rectangles. We compared the time involved in shifting
attention (cost of attentional shift) when the locations of targets were
cued and non cued. Results showed that the cost of the attentional shift
within one rectangle was smaller than that beyond the object's boundary,
demonstrating object-based attention in chimpanzees. The results of
Experiment 2, conducted with different stimulus configurations,
replicated the results of Experiment 1, supporting that object-based
attention operates in chimpanzees. In Experiment 3, the cost of
attentional shift within a cued but partly occluded rectangle was
shorter than that within a rectangle that was cued but divided in the
middle. The results suggest that the attention of chimpanzees is
activated not only by an explicit object but also by fragmented patches
represented as an object at a higher-order perceptual level.
Chimpanzees' object-based attention may be similar to that of humans. Vision Research (2010), doi:10.1016/j.visres.2010.01.003 JAN/18/2010
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