Amodal Completion in Mouse Vision

Abstract

The question of whether phenomena of human perception such as amodal completion are also present in visual perception in the mouse was investigated. Three experiments based on a simultaneous-discrimination task were carried out with the aid of a jumping-stand similar to the one used by Lashley. The subjects were 36 male mice (DBA/J); 12 took part in each experiment. After reaching the learning criterion (87% correct responses), the mice performed 15 test trials which were interpolated between the learning trials. The test trials were constructed so as to allow the observation of any perceptual phenomena similar to amodal perception. Of the 36 subjects, 23 reached the criterion necessary to access the test phase. A significant number of them (17 out of 23, chi 2 = 5.261, p = 0.021) adopted a decisional strategy that seemed to indicate the occurrence of phenomena similar to amodal completion, and a trend in the same direction was observed in the performance of the other 6 subjects. The results allow the conclusion that a perceptual phenomenon which is similar to amodal completion in humans is present even at this phylogenetic level. Alternative interpretations are discussed.

Visual Discrimination Learning in the Jumping Spider Phidippus regius

“…Through amodal completion, an animal can perceive a figure as a whole even if another object conceals a portion of it (Michotte, Thines, & Crabbe, 1964). Mammals (Kanizsa, Renzi, Conte, Compostela, & Guerani, 1993;Sato, Kanazawa, & Fujita, 1997), birds (Regolin & Vallortigara, 1995), fish (Sovrano & Bisazza, 2008) and even invertebrates (van Hateren et al, 1990;Zylinski, Darmaillacq, & Shashar, 2012) use this mechanism just as humans do (Kanizsa, 1979).…”

Amodal Completion of Moving Objects by Pigeons

“…Moreover, other studies have explored amodal completion behavior in non-primate species. Bengalese finches (Okanoya & Takahashi, 2000), chickens (Forkman, 1998;Forkman & Vallortigara, 1999;Lea, Slater, & Ryan, 1996;Regolin & Vallortigara, 1995;Regolin, Marconato, & Vallortigara, 2004), and mice (Kanizsa, Renzi, Conte, Compostela, & Guerani, 1993) may also exhibit amodal completion behavior.…”

Prior experience affects amodal completion in pigeons

“…Several comparative projects have found that not only humans, but also many familiar laboratory animals use amodal completion to identify partially occluded objects shown in 2-D displays (for mice, see Kanizsa, Renzi, Conte, Compostela, & Guerani, 1993; for Bengalese finches, Okanoya & Takahashi, 2000;for chickens, Forkman, 1998;Forkman & Vallortigara, 1999;Lea, Slater, & Ryan, 1996;Regolin & Vallortigara, 1995; for squirrel monkeys, Nagasaka & Osada, 2000; for Japanese macaques, Sugita, 1999; for rhesus macaques, Bakin, Nakayama, & Gilbert, 2000;Fujita, 2001;Osada & Schiller, 1994; for baboons, Deruelle, Barbet, Dépy, & Fagot, 2000;Fagot & Barbet, 2006; and for chimpanzees, Sato, Kanazawa, & Fujita, 1997). Research with pigeons, however, has surprisingly yielded no clear evidence of amodal completion (Aust & Huber, 2006;Cerella, 1980;DiPietro, Wasserman, & Young, 2002;Fujita, 2001;Sekuler, Lee, & Shettleworth, 1996;Shimizu, 1998;Ushitani, Fujita, & Yamanaka, 2001;Watanabe & Furuya, 1997).…”