Some More Ethological Concepts

Abstract

Chapter 2 dealt with specializations in the sender of signals, but there are also genetically programmed specializations in the receiver of signals coming from the environment or from social companions. So there can be a genetic basis for receiving as well as sending signals with adaptive significance. This is important because of the many hundreds of bits of sensory information with which animals are bombarded every moment of the day and night. Specialization in the receiver requires information reduction brought about by selective filtering, which helps to separate relevant from irrelevant information. This filtering can be considered on two separate levels: perception and attention.