dc.contributor.author | Stoddard, MC | |
dc.contributor.author | Hogan, BG | |
dc.contributor.author | Stevens, M | |
dc.contributor.author | Spottiswoode, CN | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2019-01-14T12:59:21Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2019-02-11 | |
dc.description.abstract | Despite a recent explosion of research on pattern recognition, in both neuroscience and computer
vision, we lack a basic understanding of how most animals perceive and respond to patterns in the
wild. Avian brood parasites and their hosts provide an ideal study system for investigating the
mechanisms of pattern recognition. The cuckoo finch Anomalospiza imberbis and its host the tawnyflanked
prinia Prinia subflava lay highly polymorphic eggs with a great deal of variation in colour and
patterning, with the cuckoo finch capable of close egg mimicry. Behavioural experiments in Zambia
have previously shown that prinias use colour and multiple “low-level” (occurring in early-stages of
visual processing) pattern attributes, derived from spatial frequency analysis, when rejecting foreign
eggs. Here we explore the extent to which host birds might also use “higher-level” pattern attributes,
derived from a feature detection algorithm, to make rejection decisions. Using a SIFT-based pattern
recognition algorithm, NATUREPATTERNMATCH, we show that hosts are more likely to reject a foreign
egg if its higher-level pattern features – which capture information about the shape and orientation of
markings – differ from those of the host eggs. A revised statistical model explains about 37% variance
in egg rejection behaviour, and differences in colour, low-level and higher-level pattern features all
predict rejection, accounting for 42%, 44% and 14% of the explained variance, respectively. Thus,
higher-level pattern features provide a small but measurable improvement to the original model and
may be especially useful when colour and low-level pattern features provide hosts with little
information. Understanding the relative importance of low- and higher-level pattern features is a
valuable goal for future work on animal coloration, especially in the contexts of mimicry, camouflage
and individual recognition. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | Princeton University | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | Sloan Foundation | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Vol. 374 (1769). Published online 11 February 2019. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1098/rstb.2018.0197 | |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | BB/J014109/1 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/35452 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | Royal Society | en_GB |
dc.rights | © 2019 The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. | |
dc.title | Higher-level pattern features provide additional information to birds when recognizing and rejecting parasitic eggs | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2019-01-14T12:59:21Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0962-8436 | |
dc.description | This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from The Royal Society via the DOI in this record. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.journal | Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences | en_GB |
dc.rights.uri | http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved | en_GB |
dcterms.dateAccepted | 2018-11-14 | |
rioxxterms.version | AM | en_GB |
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate | 2018-11-14 | |
rioxxterms.type | Journal Article/Review | en_GB |
refterms.dateFCD | 2019-01-13T09:42:49Z | |
refterms.versionFCD | AM | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2019-02-21T14:16:51Z | |
refterms.panel | A | en_GB |