So reasoned Robert Fantz at 
the University of Chicago in 
the 1960s in wondering about 
the vision of newly hatched 
chicks. Chicks tend to peck at 
small particles or small spots 
that stand out from the rest of 
the ground. Because grain, the 
chicken’s source of food, is 
oval in shape, there would be 
an evolutionary advantage if 
they preferred to peck at small 
particles of a roundish shape 
rather than at those of other 
shapes. Evidence of such a 
preference would therefore 
implicate form perception as 
the necessary basis of it. To test 
this hypothesis, Fantz placed 
one- to three-day-old chicks 
(kept in the dark until the 
experiment began) in a box 
with variously shaped small 
objects. The objects were set 
into transparent plastic covers 
behind which were sensitive 
microswitches that could 
record each peck. The number 
of pecks of all chicks recorded 
at each figure could thus be 
used as a measure of their 
preference. The results of one 
experiment using 100 chicks 
were as follows: spherical 
object, 24,346; ellipsoidal 
object, 28,122; pyramidal 
object, 2492; star-shaped 
object, 2076. There were thus 
roughly ten times as many 
pecks to rounded shapes—–a 
clear preference. It would seem 
safe to conclude that chicks 
perceive form from birth and 
not on the basis of past 
experience.