Complexity Increases Working Memory for Mating Signals
| Autor: | Michael J. Ryan, Karin L. Akre |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Male EVO_ECOL Time Factors Biology 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Signal General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Mate quality Sexual Behavior Animal Memory Animals 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology Mating Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all) Working memory Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology(all) 05 social sciences Cognitive bias Active time Sexual behavior Sexual selection Female Anura Vocalization Animal General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Cognitive psychology |
| Zdroj: | Current Biology. 20(6):502-505 |
| ISSN: | 0960-9822 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.cub.2010.01.021 |
| Popis: | SummaryFemales often prefer to mate with males who produce complex signals [1–3]. It is not clear why they do so. Females might prefer complexity if it predicts mate quality [4–6], or signals might evolve complexity to exploit females’ sensory or cognitive biases [6–9]. We tested whether complexity increases active time, the period over which a signal influences a receiver's response to that signal. Mating signals are often ephemeral, yet their active time has largely been ignored. Here we demonstrate that signal complexity influences active time in túngara frogs. Male advertisement calls consist of frequency sweeps (whines) followed by 0–7 high-frequency bursts (chucks). Females preferentially approach complex (whines with chucks) over simple (whines alone) calls but do not consistently prefer greater complexity [10], so the function of multiple chucks has been uncertain. We found that females remember which speaker previously broadcast complex calls when choosing between simple calls broadcast after a delay. This effect occurred for calls with multiple chucks, but not with single chucks. Neither motivation nor orientation behavior differed with chuck number, suggesting that results are due to differential memory. Thus, female memory could favor the evolution of increasing signal complexity through sexual selection. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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