Visual representation in the wild: How rhesus monkeys parse objects

Visual object representation was studied in free-ranging rhesus monkeys. To facilitate comparison with humans. and to provide a new tool for neurophys iologists, we used a looking time procedure originally developed for studie s of human infants.,Monkeys' looking times were measured to displays with o ne or two distinct objects, separated or together, stationary or moving. Re sults indicate that, rhesus monkeys used featural information to parse the display into distinct objects. and the) found events in which distinct obje cts moved together more novel or unnatural than events in which distinct ob jects moved separately. These findings show both commonalities and contrast s with those obtained from human infants. We discuss their implications for the development and neural mechanisms of higher-level vision.