Kl. Schmid et Cf. Wildsoet, ASSESSMENT OF VISUAL-ACUITY AND CONTRAST SENSITIVITY IN THE CHICK USING AN OPTOKINETIC NYSTAGMUS PARADIGM, Vision research (Oxford), 38(17), 1998, pp. 2629-2634
While the chick is one of the widely used animal models for eye growth
studies very little is known about its visual spatial resolution perf
ormance. Using optokinetic nystagmus responses as an indicator of stim
ulus visibility, we estimated the visual acuity of young chicks to be
between 6.0 and 7.7 cycles deg(-1) at 2 and 4 days of age and slightly
higher, between 7.7 and 8.6 cycle deg(-1), at 8 days. Contrast sensit
ivity measured using the same experimental paradigm was greatest at ar
ound 1.2 cycle deg(-1), for which the contrast threshold lay between 4
% and 11%. Sensitivity became progressively poorer for frequencies bot
h higher and lower than this. These data suggest that the visual perfo
rmance of the chick is slightly poorer than that of the pigeon which h
as a similar eye size and exhibits similar foraging behaviour. (C) 199
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