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Tuesday "Noon" Seminar: April 3, 2007Ipek Kuhlaci on "Complex signals and the speed-accuracy trade-off in decision making"
12:30-1:45 p.m. in Biosciences West (map of building location), Room 208 |
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Talk Abstract Recent studies on signals have drawn attention to receivers' information processing abilities and the role of these processes on signal evolution. Many signals in nature are complex. However, the advantages and disadvantages of complex signaling are not fully understood. Although several studies show that vertebrates learn and decide between multimodal signals faster, recent flower constancy studies on bees suggest that signal processing, learning and decision-making may be adversely affected by multiple floral traits. Speed-accuracy trade-off studies are especially useful in understanding the influence of signal properties on animal information processing abilities, because the trade-off between fast and accurate decisions changes with the perceived difficulty of a task. To investigate how signal complexity and modality influence learning and decision-making processes in foraging bumblebees (Bombus impatiens), I trained them on flowers that differ in one modality (visual or olfactory), or in two modalities (visual and olfactory). My results show that multimodal flowers lead to quicker and more accurate decisions in addition to faster learning in bumblebees. I will discuss these results and their implications for flower constancy of pollinators. |
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