Randomness, complexity, and visual preference behavior in the hooded rat and domestic chick.

Abstract

Rats and chicks, at all ages tested, preferred less complex patterns over more random ones when patterns were displayed directly under the glass in a visual cliff (p< . 001). It was concluded that greater complexity was not preferred if greater complexity is defined as the greater randomness inherent in the 2-dimensional grid pattern. However, greater amount of contour, a property of the preferred patterns, was confounded with randomness.