Visual cognition in nonhuman primates.

Fagot, J. & Parron, C. (2012). Visual cognition in nonhuman primates. In Lazaverra, O, Shimizu, T. & Wasserman, E.A. (Eds.). How animals see the world. Oxford Psychology Press. pp. 371-389.

Abstract – This chapter discusses studies that compared grouping mechanisms in two nonhuman primate species (chimpanzees and baboons) and in humans. A local advantage, rather than a global advantage characterized by the processing of hierarchical stimuli in baboons, was observed. Detailed investigation of local advantage in baboons revealed that local precedence can be accounted for by a reduced proximity grouping; and a local mode of stimulus processing was also evident in the perception of the Ebbinghaus illusion, for which there was no explicit training to process the global stimulus structure. Similar studies of global-local precedence were conducted in other primate species and in birds. With a few exceptions, these comparative studies confirm that the local processing mode is not restricted to baboons, but also characterizes the perception of chimpanzees, macaques, capuchins, and even pigeons.