Animals can reorient making use of the geometric
shape of an environment, i.e., using sense and metric
properties of surfaces. Animals reared soon after birth either
in circular or in rectangular enclosures (and thus aVording
diVerent experiences with metric properties of the spatial
layout) showed similar abilities when tested for spatial reorientation
in a rectangular enclosure. Thus, early experience
in environments with diVerent geometric characteristics
does not seem to aVect animals’ ability to reorient using
sense and metric information. However, some results seem
to suggest that when geometric and non-geometric information
are set in conXict, rearing experience could aVect the
relative dominance of featural (landmark) and geometric
information. In three separate experiments, newborn chicks
reared either in circular- or in rectangular-shaped homecages
were tested for spatial reorientation in a rectangular
enclosure, with featural information provided either by panels
at the corners or by a blue-coloured wall. At test, when
faced with aYne transformations in the arrangement of featural
information that contrasted with the geometric information,
chicks showed no evidence of any eVect of early
experience on their relative use of geometric and featural
information for spatial reorientation. These Wndings suggest
that, at least for this highly precocial species, the ability to
deal with geometry seems to depend more on predisposed
mechanisms than on learning and experience after hatching.
