Nováková Nela, Veselý Petr, Fuchs Roman
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Behav Processes. 2017 Oct;143:7-12. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.08.002. Epub 2017 Aug 9.
The object categorization is only scarcely studied using untrained wild ranging animals and relevant stimuli. We tested the importance of the spatial position of features salient for categorization of a predator using wild ranging birds (titmice) visiting a winter feeder. As a relevant stimulus we used a dummy of a raptor, the European sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), placed at the feeding location. This dummy was designed to be dismantled into three parts and rearranged with the head in the correct position, in the middle or at the bottom of the dummy. When the birds had the option of visiting an alternative feeder with a dummy pigeon, they preferred this option to visiting the feeder with the dummy sparrowhawk with the head in any of the three positions. When the birds had the option of visiting an alternative feeder with an un-rearranged dummy sparrowhawk, they visited both feeders equally often, and very scarcely. This suggests that the titmice considered all of the sparrowhawk modifications as being dangerous, and equally dangerous as the un-rearranged sparrowhawk. The position of the head was not the most important cue for categorization. The presence of the key features was probably sufficient for categorization, and their mutual spatial position was of lower importance.
利用未经训练的野生放养动物和相关刺激对物体分类进行的研究极少。我们利用来冬季喂食器觅食的野生放养鸟类（山雀），测试了对捕食者进行分类时显著特征的空间位置的重要性。作为相关刺激物，我们在喂食地点放置了一只猛禽——雀鹰（Accipiter nisus）的模型。这个模型设计成可拆解成三个部分，并重新排列，使头部处于模型的正确位置、中间位置或底部位置。当鸟类可以选择去另一个有鸽子模型的喂食器时，它们更喜欢这个选择，而不是去有处于三种位置之一的头部的雀鹰模型的喂食器。当鸟类可以选择去另一个有未重新排列的雀鹰模型的喂食器时，它们去两个喂食器的频率相同，而且很少去。这表明山雀认为雀鹰模型的所有改变都是危险的，并且与未重新排列的雀鹰模型一样危险。头部的位置不是分类的最重要线索。关键特征的存在可能足以进行分类，而它们的相互空间位置的重要性较低。
