Cats Visual Response to Certain Geometric Illusions

Abstract

<p>Two behavioral experiments were performed to determine whether cats perceive some geometric illusions. Cats were trained on a visual discrimination in a modified Yerkes-Watson box and tested on the illusion patterns. The two illusions used were the Hering illusion ( preliminary experiment 1 ) and the Muller-Lyer illusion ( primary experiment 2 ). The data of the primary experiment provided strong evidence that cats experience illusory percepts in a way similar to humans. This study supports a recent neurophysiological finding by Burns and Pritchard ( 1971 ) and suggests that some visual mechanisms of both human and cat are comparable.</p>