Reactors and the design of signals

How signals originate

 

Most displays appear to have evolved from movements or postures that correlated with future behaviors

 

Intention movements

 

Displacement activities

 

Ritualization: the evolution of signals to improve their effectiveness

 Understanding the generation and reception of signals is only part of communication. What about information content?

 

 Consider "why" animals signal to others....

 

To send truthful information or to send deceitful information

 

 The "intent" of a signal may influence its design.

Hypotheses for the evolution of signal design

Reduction of ambiguity (stereotyped signals clarify the message)

e.g., bird calls in the forest vs grasslands

 

Deceitful messages (manipulation and bluffing by sender)

e.g. contest competiton for resources (sneakers, fake alarm calls, bluffs, "attenuators")

What about not passing on information (recruitment calls in Vervet monkeys to a fruit laden tree)?

 

Honest messages (signalling physical or genetic quality)

e.g., mating signals or displays.... "I'm the best"

This leads to the idea of "Handicaps......"

What prevents cheating?

Finally, acknowledge that constraints upon the receiver's physiological or neurological make up may also influence signal evolution

Example: Swordtails

 

The size of signal repertoires (variation in signals) often relates to the different contexts facing a communicator.

What happens when the costs and benefits of receiving specific information vary between sender and receiver?

When are "deceitful messages" adaptive?