Communication Through a Window of Error: Proportional Processing and Signal Categorization

Abstract

Animals can perceive informationInformationabout the physical and social environment around them only through their sensory systems. Because of this, the constraints of sensory mechanisms can impact animals' abilities to accurately assess their environment. In communication systems, receivers depend on perceiving signals to make decisionsDecision-makingabout how to respond. One feature of sensory systems that can blur their perceptual interpretation of stimuli is an imperfect ability to compare magnitudes. This complicates communication tasks such as signal categorization. For many sensory parameters, this difficulty is exacerbated for high-magnitude stimuli. Often, the potential error in perceiving stimulus magnitude varies predictably according to magnitude. This allows us to predict how receiver error can influence the evolution of communication systems, including signal characteristics, signaler strategiesStrategiesof signalers, and receiver behaviors. Perceptual error can contribute to the evolution of exaggerated signals, novel signal components, loss of signal components, and directional changes according to signal function. For signalers, perceptual error by receivers can lead to changes in rate of display, choice of dynamic signal components, and escalation of competitions. For receivers, this process sheds light on the evolution of sensory systems, allocation of attentionAttention, and compensatory behaviors. We invite researchers to apply these concepts in diverse areas of animal communication study.