Chittka, L., Skorupski, P. and Raine, N. E. (2009) Speed-accuracy tradeoffs in animal decision making. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 24 (7).
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The traditional emphasis when measuring performance in animal cognition has been overwhelmingly on accuracy, independent of decision time. However, more recently it became clear that tradeoffs exist between decision speed and accuracy in many ecologically relevant tasks, for example prey and predator detection and identification, pollinators choosing between flowers species, and spatial exploration strategies. Obtaining high quality information often increases sampling time, especially under noisy conditions. We discuss the mechanisms generating such speed-accuracy tradeoffs, their implications for animal decision making (including signalling, communication and mate choice) and the significance of differences in decision strategies among species, populations, and individuals. The ecological relevance of such tradeoffs can be better understood by considering the neuronal mechanisms underlying decision making processes.
This is a Submitted version This version's date is: 2009 This item is not peer reviewed
https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/badd34de-b90a-c5fd-88ea-9d57609ef565/1/
Deposited by Research Information System (atira) on 29-Jun-2012 in Royal Holloway Research Online.Last modified on 29-Jun-2012