Gray Suzanne L, Qadri Muhammad A J, Cook Robert G
Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Ave, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
Department of Psychology, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, USA.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2023 Oct;85(7):2515-2530. doi: 10.3758/s13414-023-02668-7. Epub 2023 Mar 14.
Identifying the behaviors of organisms is essential for an animal's survival. This ability is particularly challenged when the "actors" are dynamically occluded by other objects and become fragmented as they move through an environment. Even when fragmented in time and across space, humans readily recognize the behavior of these dynamically occluded objects and actors. How animals process such fragmented information, especially when involving motion, remains uncertain. In three experiments, we investigated the ability of six pigeons to discriminate between the running and walking actions of digital animal models when dynamically occluded. The pigeons were tested in a go/no-go procedure using three models that transited behind multiple occluders in a semirealistic scene. Without ever seeing the entirety of the animal model at one time, all the pigeons learned to discriminate among these two behaviors. This discrimination transferred to an unfamiliar model, transit direction, transiting rates, camera perspectives, and occluders. Tests with different static and dynamic features indicated that the pigeons relied on motion features for the discrimination, especially articulated motion. These experiments demonstrate that pigeons, like humans, can discriminate actions even when their view of the actor is fragmented in time and space.
识别生物体的行为对动物的生存至关重要。当“行为主体”被其他物体动态遮挡并在穿越环境时变得支离破碎时，这种能力尤其受到挑战。即使在时间和空间上支离破碎，人类也能轻易识别这些动态遮挡物体和行为主体的行为。动物如何处理这种碎片化信息，尤其是涉及运动时，仍然不确定。在三个实验中，我们研究了六只鸽子在动态遮挡时区分数字动物模型跑步和行走动作的能力。鸽子在一个“是/否”程序中接受测试，使用三个模型在半现实场景中在多个遮挡物后面移动。鸽子从未一次性看到动物模型的全貌，但所有鸽子都学会了区分这两种行为。这种区分转移到了一个不熟悉的模型、移动方向、移动速度、摄像机视角和遮挡物上。对不同静态和动态特征的测试表明，鸽子依靠运动特征进行区分，尤其是关节运动。这些实验表明，鸽子和人类一样，即使对行为主体的观察在时间和空间上是碎片化的，也能区分动作。
