Using Information from Others: The Evolution and Cognition of Animal-to-Animal Information Use
Creators: name: Turner, Cameron
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2022

description: This thesis analyses the circumstances under which selection will favour animals using information from others. From detecting threats to acquiring foraging techniques, effectively using information is often crucial for survival. Consequently, animals have adaptations to their psychology for using information to learn and deploy behaviours. Other animals can be mates, competitors or face similar challenges, and so others are likely to be sources of valuable information. However, cognitive systems are metabolically expensive, and attempts to use information can lead to costly errors, so disregarding information is sometimes favourable. Using information from others carries further challenges. Others may have different interests so cues are only sometimes relevant; others may also make efforts to hinder information use. Employing mathematical models, I collate conditions that select for information use from any environmental source, as well as those that relate to the special case of using information from others (both conspecifics and heterospecifics). My approach explicitly examines how traits of the animal respond to the quality of information present in the environment. Further, I highlight the role that both the sender (who produces information) and receiver (who uses information) play in animal-to-animal information use. I implement concepts from signal detection theory (statistical decision theory) to clarify the role of informational noise, reliability, errors, and trade-offs in the evolution of information use. After a General Introduction (Chapter 1), I provide three core chapters (2-4) examining animal-to-animal information use, followed by a General Discussion (Chapter 5). My core chapters are designed to stand alone and deal with distinct issues, including social learning, the philosophy of evolutionary psychology, and eavesdropping between heterospecifics. Chapter 2 provides a model that examines the coevolution of traits of the sender and receiver for social learning. I find that when sender and receiver have aligned interests, senders are selected to support receiver social learning by teaching. However, if interests are opposed, senders mask while receivers attempt to parasitise information. Chapter 3 examines the philosophical issue of how to apply evolutionary theory to psychology. I highlight the fact that evolution may often adaptively prepare learning, so cognitive abilities exist on a continuum from highly contingent on learning to innate. I argue that evolutionary conditions can help us to place cognitive abilities on this continuum, and demonstrate this for the case of imitation. Chapter 4 provides a model that examines when eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls is selected. Animals often get useful information from heterospecifics, including using alarm calls that warn of the presence of predators. I find that for eavesdropping to be favoured, species must be ecologically similar, and informational noise must be sufficiently low. The General Discussion (Chapter 5) collates conditions for information use (clarified by a summary model), and unifies concepts that are found to be important across the thesis. I conclude that investigating the evolution of capacities for gathering versus responding to information provides a good opportunity for future research. Further, incorporating realistic details of social dynamics remains an important task for modelling.