Star finches Neochmia ruficauda have a visual preference for white dot patterns: a possible case of trypophilia

• Published in: Animal cognition Vol. 25; no. 5; pp. 1271 - 1279
• Main Authors: Mizuno, Ayumi, Soma, Masayo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Aposematism; Behavioral Sciences; Bias; Biological evolution; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Comparative studies; Dietary restrictions; Evolution; Feathers - chemistry; Feathers - physiology; Finches - physiology; Food; Food availability; Foraging behavior; Humans; Hunger; Hypotheses; Life Sciences; Natural selection; Neochmia ruficauda; Original Paper; Passeriformes; Phylogeny; Pigmentation - physiology; Plumage; Preferences; Prey; Psychology Research; Signaling; Zoology; Estrildid finch; Plumage dot pattern; Sensory exploitation; Sensory bias; Visual attention; Signal evolution

Many animals have polka dot patterns on their body surface, some of which are known to have signalling functions; however, their evolutionary origins remain unclear. Dot patterns can trigger a fear response (trypophobia) in humans and are known to function as aposematic signals in non-human animals,...