Seeing the Forest for the Trees, and the Ground Below My Beak: Global and Local Processing in the Pigeon's Visual System

Non-human animals tend to solve behavioral tasks using local information. Pigeons are particularly biased toward using the local features of stimuli to guide behavior in small-scale environments. When behavioral tasks are performed in large-scale environments, pigeons are much better global processors of information. The local and global strategies are mediated by two different fovea in the pigeon retina that are associated with the tectofugal and thalamofugal pathways. We discuss the neural mechanisms of pigeons' bias for local information within the tectofugal pathway, which terminates at an intermediate stage of extracting shape complexity. We also review the evidence suggesting that the thalamofugal pathway participates in global processing in pigeons and is primarily engaged in constructing a spatial representation of the environment in conjunction with the hippocampus.

Automated summary

Non-human animals usually solve behavioral tasks by using local information, and pigeons have a particular bias towards using the local features of stimuli to guide their behavior in small-scale environments. However, in large-scale environments, pigeons are better at processing global information. This local and global strategy is mediated by two different fovea in the pigeon retina, which are associated with the tectofugal and thalamofugal pathways.