A ground-like surface facilitates visual search in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

作者：Imura Tomoko^*; Tomonaga Masaki

来源：Scientific Reports, 2013, 3(1): 2343.

DOI：10.1038/srep02343

Ground surfaces play an important role in terrestrial species%26apos; locomotion and ability to manipulate objects. In humans, ground surfaces have been found to offer significant advantages in distance perception and visual-search tasks (%26quot;ground dominance%26apos;%26apos;). The present study used a comparative perspective to investigate the ground-dominance effect in chimpanzees, a species that spends time both on the ground and in trees. During the experiments chimpanzees and humans engaged in a search for a cube on a computer screen; the target cube was darker than other cubes. The search items were arranged on a ground-like or ceiling-like surface, which was defined by texture gradients and shading. The findings indicate that a ground-like, but not a ceiling-like, surface facilitated the search for a difference in luminance among both chimpanzees and humans. Our findings suggest the operation of a ground-dominance effect on visual search in both species.

• 出版日期2013-8-6