Visual information and approach behavior in genetically manipulated quail chicks: preference hierarchies and interactions of flash rate, flash amplitude, luminance, and color.

Visual preferences were studied in 18,225 quail chicks (Coturnix coturnix japonica) of three genetic populations, in relation to 185 pairs of systematically varied and combined flash rates, flash amplitudes, luminances, and colors. Results indicate additive and nonadditive interactions between preference values of stimulus elements embedded in complex stimulus information. Flicker preferences changed with changes in overall stimulus liminances, flash amplitudes, and colors. Likewise, color preferences changed with the presence or absence and rate of flicker. Interactions between preference values of stimuli were related to threshold effects and genetic influences. Dominance of flicker over color preference was found in genetic controls, but subjects drawn from the 14th generation of bidirectional genetic selection for color choices preferred the genetically favored colors regardless of flicker. Discussion examines the data from the perspectives of coding and processing stimulus information.