Cross-Modal Correspondences in Non-human Mammal Communication

Abstract

For both humans and other animals, the ability to combine information obtained through different senses is fundamental to the perception of the environment. It is well established that humans form systematic cross-modal correspondences between stimulus features that can facilitate the accurate combination of sensory percepts. However, the evolutionary origins of the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms involved in these cross-modal associations remain surprisingly under-explored. In this review we outline recent comparative studies investigating how non-human mammals naturally combine information encoded in different sensory modalities during communication. The results of these behavioural studies demonstrate that various mammalian species are able to combine signals from different sensory channels when they are perceived to share the same basic features, either because they can be redundantly sensed and/or because they are processed in the same way.Moreover, evidence that a wide range of mammals form complex cognitive representations about signallers, both within and across species, suggests that animals also learn to associate different sensory features which regularly co-occur. Further research is now necessary to determine how multisensory representations are formed in individual animals, including the relative importance of low-level feature-related correspondences. Such investigations will generate important insights into how animals perceive and categorise their environment, as well as provide an essential basis for understanding the evolution of multisensory perception in humans.

Field testing an “acoustic lighthouse”: Combined acoustic and visual cues provide a multimodal solution that reduces avian collision risk with tall human-made structures

“…For example, studies have shown that signal receivers direct attention in a spatially appropriate manner in response to certain types of alarm calls, such as directing visual attention upwards in response to alarm signals specific to aerial predators [ 61 , 62 ]. Other research has shown, more generally, the tendency of multiple species to orient visual attention based partly on simple signal characteristics such as frequency [ 63 ]. Collision mitigation approaches could co-opt such natural tendencies in the behaviors of at-risk birds, to help elicit collision avoidance.…”

Vocal information and the navigation of social decisions in bats: Is social complexity linked to vocal complexity?

“…Promising areas of future research in bats and beyond would be how receivers accomplish cross‐modal integration of social signals (e.g. Kozak & Uetz, ; Ratcliffe, Taylor, & Reby, ) or decode temporally segregated social information in the same sensory channel (e.g. Collier, Townsend, & Manser, ; Jansen, Cant, & Manser, ).…”

Cross-modal recognition of familiar conspecifics in goats

“…The current limited body of the literature on cross-modal recognition can provide insights into the factors that may lead to the evolution of cross-modal recognition [38]. These species all display extended social relationships with conspecifics [9,11,13,14,18], while some of those that have been shown to have cross-modal recognition of humans have a long history of domestication, i.e.…”

“…Using a cross-modal preferential looking paradigm (e.g. [37,38]), we first presented goats with calls of either their stablemate (individual sharing their pen at night) or another familiar herd member in an arena where they could simultaneously observe both individuals. Secondly, we presented them with calls of one of two herd members, in order to test whether goats possess cross-modal representations of other, less familiar individuals than their stablemate.…”