A minimal visual restriction experiment: preventing chicks from seeing their feet affects later responses to mealworms.

Chicks raised from hatching for 2 days without being able to see their feet because of cloth foot covers were less likely than controls to eat or pick up mealworms, which resemble the chicks’ feet in some respects. Instead the chicks spent much time staring at the mealworms. Similar, but perhaps weaker, effects were obtained when the toes were simply painted black. These results may reflect processes of perceptual learning characteristic of infant animals.