Some of the research we do focuses on camouflage. Questions of interest include:
- What visual statistics of various visual backgrounds are most important for a target to match to avoid detection by human observers?
- How do you break camouflage without prior knowledge of the pattern deployed by the target?
- What different classes of camouflage strategies have different animals evolved, and how do these strategies alter in response to varying situational demands?
Much of this research focuses on cuttlefish (in collaboration with Roger Hanlon and associates at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, MA). These animals can change the visual properties of their skin and are remarkably good at camouflaging themselves. Here’s a picture of one in small tank in the lab at Woods Hole:
Much of the work we do with these animals is aimed at trying to determine how their patterning responses depend on the visual input they receive.
References:
- Hanlon, RT, Chiao, CC, Mäthger, LM, Buresch, KC, Barbosa, A, Allen, JJ, Siemann, L, & Chubb, C (In Press)
- Chiao, C.C., Chubb, C., Buresch, K., Allen, J., Barbosa, A., Mäthger,L.M., Hanlon, R.T. (2010)
- Allen, J., Mäthger,L.M., Barbosa, A., Buresch, K.C., Sogin, E., Schwartz, J., Chubb, C., Hanlon, R.T. (2010)
- Hanlon RT, Chiao CC, Mathger LM, Barbosa A, Buresch KC and Chubb, C. (2009)
- Chiao, C-C., Chubb, C., Buresch, K., Siemann, L., Hanlon, R. (2009)
- Barbosa, A, Mäthger, LM, Buresch, KC, Kelly, J, Chubb, C, Chiao, C-C, Hanlon, RT, (2008)
- Barbosa, A., Mathger, L.M., Chubb, C., Florio, ., Chiao, C-C., Hanlon, R.T. (2007)