A horse's eye view: size and shape discrimination compared with other mammals.

ABSTRACT: Mammals have adapted to a variety of natural environments from underwater to aerial and these different adaptations have affected their specific perceptive and cognitive abilities. This study used a computer-controlled touchscreen system to examine the visual discrimination abilities of horses, particularly regarding size and shape, and compared the results with those from chimpanzee, human and dolphin studies. Horses were able to discriminate a difference of 14% in circle size but showed worse discrimination thresholds than chimpanzees and humans; these differences cannot be explained by visual acuity. Furthermore, the present findings indicate that all species use length cues rather than area cues to discriminate size. In terms of shape discrimination, horses exhibited perceptual similar

SUBMITTER: Tomonaga M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4685539 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature