Depth resolution in the pigeon

Pigeons possess a binocular visual field and a retinal region of higher cellular density pointing to the center of this overlap. These features and the precision of pecking behavior suggest that in this lateral-eyed bird cues other than monocular ones might participate in depth judgements. Pigeons were trained with an operant procedure to discriminate between luminous points differing in depth which appeared to the observer as floating in the dark. The accuracy of depth judgements was found to be a function of the ratio between the interstimulus distance and the mean eyes-to-stimulus distance. In a first test (experiment I) no external binocular disparity cues were available, the animal only seeing one luminous point at a time (near or far). In a second test (experiment II) where binocular disparity cues were available, the animal having this time to discriminate a pair of points placed at equal depth from a pair placed at unequal depths, only one pair being visible at a time, depth resolution did not improve. This suggests that, at least within the range of distances explored, the pigeon has no stereoscopic vision. Notwithstanding this, binocular cues do play a role, since when tests were done comparing binocular with monocular viewing (experiment III), monocular depth resolution was significantly worse.