Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Quantitative studies of animal colour constancy: using the chicken as model

Olsson, Peter LU ; Wilby, David and Kelber, Almut LU (2016) In Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences 283(1830).
Abstract
Colour constancy is the capacity of visual systems to keep colour perception
constant despite changes in the illumination spectrum. Colour constancy has
been tested extensively in humans and has also been described in many
animals. In humans, colour constancy is often studied quantitatively, but
besides humans, this has only been done for the goldfish and the honeybee.
In this study, we quantified colour constancy in the chicken by training the
birds in a colour discrimination task and testing them in changed illumination
spectra to find the largest illumination change in which they were able
to remain colour-constant. We used the receptor noise limited model for
animal colour vision to quantify the... (More)
Colour constancy is the capacity of visual systems to keep colour perception
constant despite changes in the illumination spectrum. Colour constancy has
been tested extensively in humans and has also been described in many
animals. In humans, colour constancy is often studied quantitatively, but
besides humans, this has only been done for the goldfish and the honeybee.
In this study, we quantified colour constancy in the chicken by training the
birds in a colour discrimination task and testing them in changed illumination
spectra to find the largest illumination change in which they were able
to remain colour-constant. We used the receptor noise limited model for
animal colour vision to quantify the illumination changes, and found that
colour constancy performance depended on the difference between the colours
used in the discrimination task, the training procedure and the time the
chickens were allowed to adapt to a new illumination before making a
choice. We analysed literature data on goldfish and honeybee colour constancy
with the same method and found that chickens can compensate for
larger illumination changes than both. We suggest that future studies on
colour constancy in non-human animals could use a similar approach to
allow for comparison between species and populations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
volume
283
issue
1830
article number
20160411
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:27170714
  • wos:000376158800018
  • scopus:84998758790
ISSN
1471-2954
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2016.0411
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3f5d3d74-a6de-4752-a047-37dcb78c1720
date added to LUP
2016-05-16 21:39:21
date last changed
2024-04-04 21:27:31
@article{3f5d3d74-a6de-4752-a047-37dcb78c1720,
  abstract     = {{Colour constancy is the capacity of visual systems to keep colour perception<br/>constant despite changes in the illumination spectrum. Colour constancy has<br/>been tested extensively in humans and has also been described in many<br/>animals. In humans, colour constancy is often studied quantitatively, but<br/>besides humans, this has only been done for the goldfish and the honeybee.<br/>In this study, we quantified colour constancy in the chicken by training the<br/>birds in a colour discrimination task and testing them in changed illumination<br/>spectra to find the largest illumination change in which they were able<br/>to remain colour-constant. We used the receptor noise limited model for<br/>animal colour vision to quantify the illumination changes, and found that<br/>colour constancy performance depended on the difference between the colours<br/>used in the discrimination task, the training procedure and the time the<br/>chickens were allowed to adapt to a new illumination before making a<br/>choice. We analysed literature data on goldfish and honeybee colour constancy<br/>with the same method and found that chickens can compensate for<br/>larger illumination changes than both. We suggest that future studies on<br/>colour constancy in non-human animals could use a similar approach to<br/>allow for comparison between species and populations.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, Peter and Wilby, David and Kelber, Almut}},
  issn         = {{1471-2954}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{1830}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{Quantitative studies of animal colour constancy: using the chicken as model}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0411}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rspb.2016.0411}},
  volume       = {{283}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}