Perception of conspecific faces by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): I. Natural faces

Perception of faces by 4 budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), a species of small parrot, was studied with a same-different discrimination task. Reaction times were taken as a measure of the similarity between pairs of faces and analyzed with multidimensional scaling to reveal patterns of similarity among the faces. The perception of natural faces was tested to determine which characteristics were perceptually salient. Color, patterns of markings, darkness of the iris, and size of the pupil corresponded to the observed patterns of similarity among the faces. Differences among budgerigar faces were more salient than differences among zebra finch faces, and budgerigar faces were perceptually distinct from the faces of other avian species. The results from these experiments provide a basis for understanding the ways in which these signals function in the coordination of social behaviors.