edge detection in landing budgerigars (melopsittacus undulatus)边缘检测在着陆鹦鹉(melopsittacus波形的).pdfVIP

Edge Detection in Landing Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) 1,2,3 3 1,2 1,3,4 Partha Bhagavatula , Charles Claudianos , Michael Ibbotson , Mandyam Srinivasan * 1 ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, 2 Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, 3 Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia, 4 School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia Abstract Background: While considerable scientific effort has been devoted to studying how birds navigate over long distances, relatively little is known about how targets are detected, obstacles are avoided and smooth landings are orchestrated. Here we examine how visual features in the environment, such as contrasting edges, determine where a bird will land. Methodology/Principal Findings: Landing in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) was investigated by training them to fly from a perch to a feeder, and video-filming their landings. The feeder was placed on a grey disc that produced a contrasting edge against a uniformly blue background. We found that the birds tended to land primarily at the edge of the disc and walk to the feeder, even though the feeder was in the middle of the disc. This suggests that the birds were using the visual contrast at the boundary of the disc to target their landings. When the grey level of the disc was varied systematically, whilst keeping the blue background constant, there was one intermediate grey level at