Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (49)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dukas, R.
Right arrow Articles by Kamil, A. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Dukas, R.
Right arrow Articles by Kamil, A. C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Behavioral Ecology Vol. 12 No. 2: 192-199
© 2001 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

Limited attention: the constraint underlying search image

Reuven Dukas and Alan C. Kamil

Nebraska Behavioral Biology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0118, USA

Address correspondence to R. Dukas, Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B.C. V5A 1S6, Canada. E-mail: rdukas{at}sfu.ca .

Recent models of predator search behavior integrate proximate neurobiological constraints with ultimate economic considerations. These models are based on two assumptions, which we have critically examined in experiments with blue jays searching for artificial prey images presented on a computer monitor. We found, first, that when jays had to switch between searching for two distinct prey types, they showed no reduction in detection rates compared to no-switching to no-switching conditions, and second, that when jays divided attention between searching for two prey types at the same time, they had lower detection rates than when they focused attention on one prey type at a time. Our results suggest that limited attention strongly affects predator search patterns and diet choice, including the ubiquitous tendency to form search images.

Key words: attention, blue jay, constraint, foraging, predator, prey, search image, switching.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
K. A. Jones and J.-G. J. Godin
Are fast explorers slow reactors? Linking personality type and anti-predator behaviour
Proc R Soc B, February 22, 2010; 277(1681): 625 - 632.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
K. Nakata
Attention focusing in a sit-and-wait forager: a spider controls its prey-detection ability in different web sectors by adjusting thread tension
Proc R Soc B, January 7, 2010; 277(1678): 29 - 33.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
J. S. Hunter
Familiarity breeds contempt: effects of striped skunk color, shape, and abundance on wild carnivore behavior
Behav. Ecol., November 1, 2009; 20(6): 1315 - 1322.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
L. Wennersten and A. Forsman
Does colour polymorphism enhance survival of prey populations?
Proc R Soc B, June 22, 2009; 276(1665): 2187 - 2194.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
N. M. Marples, M. Quinlan, R. J. Thomas, and D. J. Kelly
Deactivation of dietary wariness through experience of novel food
Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2007; 18(5): 803 - 810.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
G. D. Ruxton, C. Fraser, and M. Broom
An evolutionarily stable joining policy for group foragers
Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2005; 16(5): 856 - 864.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
E. A. Hebets
Attention-altering signal interactions in the multimodal courtship display of the wolf spider Schizocosa uetzi
Behav. Ecol., January 1, 2005; 16(1): 75 - 82.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
C. W. Clark and R. Dukas
The behavioral ecology of a cognitive constraint: limited attention
Behav. Ecol., March 1, 2003; 14(2): 151 - 156.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.