Color Pecking Preferences in White Leghorn Chickens: Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Gloria J. Fischer, Grant L. Morris, and John P. Ruhsam in the Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology (Vol. 88, No. 1, pp. 402-406). The first line on page 403 is incorrect. The corrected line is given. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1975-09222-001.) Previous studies of color pecking preferences in newly hatched chicks (Gallus domesticus) have shown unimodal preference in the orange region of the spectrum or bimodal preferences at blue and orange. In the present Exp I, 138 dark-hatched White Leghorn chicks were tested in darkness with targets illuminated at 1 or 3 radiant intensity levels. Results show the least amount of pecking at green (541 nm) and peak preferences in blue-violet and orange-red regions. Findings were similar in Exp II when 150 other dark-hatched Ss were tested in the light. Overall, findings suggest unlearned pecking preferences for short and long wavelengths, with minimums at green. Possible evolutionary and photochemical bases for such a bimodal wavelength preference function are discussed. Since bimodality was unaffected by target intensity and background, these variables probably do not account for the unimodal function reported by others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)