Properties of the visual stimuli for the approach response in the domestic chick

The Characteristics and Context of Imprinting

“…However, in another experiment in which the chicks were exposed to differently coloured swinging balls, no difference could be demonstrated (see also (Smith & Hoyes, 1961). The chicks were most responsive when testing was started at 30 hr.…”

“…At the other end of the scale Hinde, et al (1956) found that a 5 ft. bird-watcher's hide was followed more readily by moorhens, Gallinula chloropus (L.), than were smaller objects; however, they suggested that this may have been because it offered greater cover to the birds. The extent to which chicks approach a flickering light was related to the size of the aperture (Smith & Hoyes, 1961). But if the same amount of light is focused on a I in.…”

“…The extent to which chicks approach a flickering light was related to the size of the aperture (Smith & Hoyes, 1961). edges) relative to the animal; for example, Smith & Hoyes (1961) found that a stimulus with a low angle of regard to the chick elicited more approach responses than did one with a high angle of regard. patch as on a 6 in.…”

Visual imprinting and auditory-discrimination learning in young of the canvasback and semiparasitic redhead (Anatidae)

“…Previous workers have found that a jerky, swinging movement (Salzen and Sluckin 1959) and movement at right angles to the subjects' line of vision (Smith 1960;Smith and Hoyes 1961) enhance the attracting power of a visual model. In this study, therefore, as in Evans (1972), the definition of a "visual stimulus" in subsequent text will apply only when the pendulum to which the stimulus is attached was activated.…”

“…fully used by Smith and Hoyes (1961), Evans (1972), and Evans and Mattson (1972) were used: a 12.5-cm white cardboard disk, and a 12.5-cm white, two-dimensional, cardboard square. To make these stimuli more conspicuous (see Bateson 1964), 1.9-cm vertical green stripes were affixed to the circle, and 1.9-cm horizontal brown stripes to the square.…”