The role of geometric and non-geometric environmental cues in reorientation: Pigeons' and humans' use of relative wall lengths, angular information, and features

The purpose of the following studies was to explore how humans and pigeons encode and use the geometric and featural information of their environments to orient and navigate. Chapters 1 and 2 examine the use of angular amplitude and relative wall length information in parallelogram-shaped enclosures by humans and pigeons. Results show that both species readily encode both cues in training and are able to use them individually to orient, but the angular information of the corners is weighted heavier than the relative wall lengths. Chapters 3 and 4 build upon these findings, using diamond-shaped enclosures and arrays to examine how orientation via angular amplitudes and features compare in the two environment types. Results indicate that both humans and pigeons can orient using either cue. However, the relative salience of the featural and angular information differs by species, environment type, and the amplitude of the goal angles.