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VISUAL DISCRIMINATION OF ORIENTATION BY OCTOPUS
Author(s) -
SUTHERLAND N. S.
Publication year - 1957
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1957.tb00599.x
Subject(s) - psychology , octopus (software) , orientation (vector space) , visual field , discrimination learning , cognitive psychology , communication , geometry , neuroscience , mathematics , physics , quantum mechanics
Recent research on visual discrimination has largely ignored one of major problems in this field, namely what are properties of shapes to which animals are responding when they discriminate them: a solution to this problem must precede attempts to arrive at mechanism behind shape discrimination. Experiments were conducted on discrimination of orientation by octopuses. It was shown that discrimination of orientation was easy where orientations to be discriminated fall in vertical and horizontal directions, extremely difficult where orientations are midway between vertical and horizontal directions. Various transfer and memory tests were carried out which confirm that animals were discriminating orientation and not other properties of figures. A tentative explanation of results is proposed. An analysis of serial effects is attempted which suggests a possible interpretation of some of Boycott & Young's findings on effects of lesions to verticalis lobe in octopus.