Search Image Formation in the Blue Jay (
            <i>Cyanocitta cristata</i>
            )

Pietrewicz, Alexandra T.; Kamil, Alan C.

doi:10.1126/science.204.4399.1332

Cited by 305 publications

(204 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Once the foodrelated stimuli had been thoroughly learned, the 299 matching selection effect should diminish or disappear. We have shown, however, that there is a substantial perceptual bias even in selection among stimuli on which the animal has been overtrained, on a task at which it is performing at a maximum asymptotic rate, and similar steady-state results have been obtained in other naturalistic experiments (Dawkins, 1971b;Pietrewicz & Kamil, 1979). This implies the occurrence of major, reversible changes in the discriminability of a stimulus on a brief time scale, perhaps only a few milliseconds-changes that are suggestive of switching attention among target stimuli.…”

Section: The Attention Threshold Hypothesissupporting

confidence: 83%

Visual search and selection of natural stimuli in the pigeon: The attention threshold hypothesis.

Bond

1983

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

148

221

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During visual search for samples of varying proportions of familiar, natural food grains displayed against a complex gravel background, pigeons exhibited "matching selection," a tendency to overselect the more common grain. The matchingselection effect was decreased at low levels of stimulus/background contrast and reversed when the grains were highly conspicuous. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that stimulus detectability should be enhanced by recent experience with a particular grain type, but they showed no convincing indications of a corresponding effect on the response criterion. An explanatory model, termed the attention threshold hypothesis, argues that the mean latency of discovery can be minimized by selectively attending to one stimulus type at a time and switching to a more generally receptive state when the rate of discovery falls below a threshold value. The model appears to account for the fact that the response rate was highest toward samples containing a single grain type and decreased as the relative proportions approached equality. Additional consequences of the adoption of this theoretical perspective were explored in some detail. Among other results, the evidence suggests that the switching threshold might be chosen so as to optimize the rate of food discovery.Animals that are ecological generalists, that is, apimals that forage for a variety of food, commonly exhibit a selection bias that depends on relative frequency (Curio, 1976;Krebs, 1973). Food types uncommon in the environment tend to be disproportionately underrepresented in the diet, whereas more abundant foods are consumed in excess. A selection bias could result from a number of passive factors, such as heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of food types or changes in food accessibility with density (Murdoch & Oaten, 1974). In animals that conduct a visual search for food, however, Tinbergen (1960) hypothesized that the bias may be attributable to active processes. Recent expe-I wish to thank D.

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Section: The Attention Threshold Hypothesissupporting

confidence: 83%

Visual search and selection of natural stimuli in the pigeon: The attention threshold hypothesis.

Bond

1983

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

148

221

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…One potential underlying mechanism is the trade-off resulting from the limited total attention a predator can give to prey (44)(45)(46), which leads to the formation of search images (30,35,(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52). To some degree, the effects of prey quality can implicitly be incorporated in our model by multiplicative factors contributing to the base attack rates and/or switching rates.…”

Section: Prey Quality and Optimal Foragingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A generalized functional response for predators that switch between multiple prey species

Leeuwen

Brännström

Jansen

et al. 2013

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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ABSTRACT. We develop a theory for the food intake of a predator that can switch between multiple prey species. The theory addresses empirical observations of prey switching and is based on the behavioural assumption that a predator tends to continue feeding on prey that are similar to the prey it has consumed last, in terms of, e.g., their morphology, defences, location, habitat choice, or behaviour. From a predator's dietary history and the assumed similarity relationship among prey species, we derive a general closed-form multi-species functional response for describing predators switching between multiple prey species. Our theory includes the Holling type II functional response as a special case and makes consistent predictions when populations of equivalent prey are aggregated or split. An analysis of the derived functional response enables us to highlight the following five main findings.(1) Prey switching leads to an approximate power-law relationship between ratios of prey abundance and prey intake, consistent with experimental data. (2) In agreement with empirical observations, the theory predicts an upper limit of 2 for the exponent of such power laws. (3) Our theory predicts deviations from power-law switching at very low and very high prey-abundance ratios. (4) The theory can predict the diet composition of a predator feeding on multiple prey species from diet observations for predators feeding only on pairs of prey species. (5) Predators foraging on more prey species will show less pronounced prey switching than predators foraging on fewer prey species, thus providing a natural explanation for the known difficulties of observing prey switching in the field.

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“…5 Jays exhibit similarly impressive detection abilities when required to locate moths in projected images in the laboratory, providing a convincing emulation of natural foraging behavior. [23][24][25] To furnish our jays with a functional virtual ecology, we generated synthetic, digital moths-bilaterally symmetrical triangles about 6 mm high-and displayed them to the birds overlaid on a complex, granular background ( Figure 1). 18,19 To avoid potential problems with avian color perception, the displays were constructed using a 64-level grey scale.…”

Section: Virtual Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%