Asymmetrical integration of sensory information during mating decisions in grasshoppers.

ABSTRACT: Decision-making processes, like all traits of an organism, are shaped by evolution; they thus carry a signature of the selection pressures associated with choice behaviors. The way sexual communication signals are integrated during courtship likely reflects the costs and benefits associated with mate choice. Here, we study the evaluation of male song by females during acoustic courtship in grasshoppers. Using playback experiments and computational modeling we find that information of different valence (attractive vs. nonattractive) is weighted asymmetrically: while information associated with nonattractive features has large weight, attractive features add little to the decision to mate. Accordingly, nonattractive features effectively veto female responses. Because attractive features have

SUBMITTER: Clemens J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4246278 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature