Intraocular transfer and simultaneous processing of stimuli presented in different visual fields of the pigeon.

Differences in neuroanatomy, optics, and function indicate the operation of 2 visual systems in pigeons, a frontal field system and a lateral field system. Communication between these systems was examined with a delayed matching-to-sample task in which sample stimuli could be presented in either the frontal or lateral fields. In Experiment 1, matching acquired with the lateral field transferred to the frontal field but did not transfer from the frontal field to the lateral field. When different samples were presented simultaneously to the frontal and lateral fields in Experiment 2, pigeons preferred to match the sample in the frontal field, but lateral field information interfered to some extent with frontal field matching. The 3rd experiment showed left lateral field dominance when the left and right fields were simultaneously presented with different sample stimuli; left field dominance was not complete, as pigeons sometimes matched the right-field sample.