Data from: Disruptive camouflage impairs object recognition

Whether hiding from predators, or avoiding battlefield casualties, camouflage is widely employed to prevent detection. Disruptive coloration is a seemingly well-known camouflage mechanism proposed to function by breaking up an object’s salient features (such as their characteristic outline), rendering objects more difficult to recognise. However, while a wide range of animals are thought to evade detection using disruptive patterns, there is no direct experimental evidence that disruptive coloration impairs recognition. Using humans searching for computer-generated moth targets, we demonstrate that the number of edge-intersecting patches on a target reduces the likelihood of it being detected, even at the expense of reduced background matching. Crucially, eye-tracking data show that targets with more edge-intersecting patches were looked at for longer periods prior to attack, and passed-over more frequently during search tasks. We therefore show directly that edge patches enhance survivorship by impairing recognition, confirming that disruptive coloration is a distinct camouflage strategy, not simply an artefact of background matching.无论是为躲避捕食者，还是规避战场伤亡，伪装（camouflage）均被广泛用于避免被侦测。干扰色伪装（disruptive coloration）是一种广为人知的伪装机制，其作用原理被认为是破坏目标物体的显著特征（例如其标志性轮廓），从而降低目标的可识别性。然而，尽管学界认为诸多动物可借助干扰色图案躲避侦测，但目前尚无直接实验证据表明，干扰色伪装会损害识别能力。本研究通过让人类受试者搜寻计算机生成的蛾类目标，证实目标上边缘相交斑块的数量越多，其被侦测到的概率越低——即便这会牺牲与背景的匹配度。尤为关键的是，眼动追踪（eye-tracking）数据显示，带有更多边缘相交斑块的目标在被锁定攻击前，会被受试者注视更长时间，且在搜索任务中被跳过的频率也更高。因此，本研究直接证明边缘斑块可通过损害识别能力提升目标的生存几率，从而确认干扰色伪装是一种独特的伪装策略，而非仅仅是背景匹配的附带产物。