What gaze direction can tell us about cognitive processes in invertebrates

Alex M Winsor; Guilherme F Pagoti; Daniel J Daye; Erik W Cheries; Kyle R Cave; Elizabeth M Jakob

doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.12.001

What gaze direction can tell us about cognitive processes in invertebrates

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2021 Jul 30:564:43-54. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.12.001. Epub 2021 Jan 5.

Authors

Alex M Winsor¹, Guilherme F Pagoti², Daniel J Daye³, Erik W Cheries⁴, Kyle R Cave⁴, Elizabeth M Jakob⁵

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 321, Travessa 14, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo, SP, 05508-090, Brazil.
³ Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA; Graduate Program in Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, 02881, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
⁵ Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 33413978
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.12.001

Abstract

Most visually guided animals shift their gaze using body movements, eye movements, or both to gather information selectively from their environments. Psychological studies of eye movements have advanced our understanding of perceptual and cognitive processes that mediate visual attention in humans and other vertebrates. However, much less is known about how these processes operate in other organisms, particularly invertebrates. We here make the case that studies of invertebrate cognition can benefit by adding precise measures of gaze direction. To accomplish this, we briefly review the human visual attention literature and outline four research themes and several experimental paradigms that could be extended to invertebrates. We briefly review selected studies where the measurement of gaze direction in invertebrates has provided new insights, and we suggest future areas of exploration.

Keywords: Cognition; Gaze direction; Invertebrate; Visual attention.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Cognition / physiology*
Invertebrates / physiology*