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Behavioral Ecology Vol. 14 No. 2: 151-156
© 2003 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

The behavioral ecology of a cognitive constraint: limited attention

Colin W. Clarka, and Reuven Dukasb

a Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada b Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada

Address correspondence to C.W. Clark. E-mail: biec{at}interchange. ubc.ca. R. Dukas is now at the Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.

Limited attention may constrain animal behavior in situations in which the rate of relevant information exceeds the threshold processing capacity of the brain. In the present study, we examine why attention is limited by quantifying how attention affects the ubiquitous problem of balancing foraging and antipredator activity. We analyze how a given attentional capacity affects feeding requirements, the optimal attentional focus during predator scanning, and the probability of detecting predators. Our model indicates that because of the complex interplay between the costs and benefits associated with a given attentional capacity, limited attention can be an optimal strategy, which allows effective and economical search for cryptic objects.

Key words: attention, cognition, constraint, foraging, predation risk.


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