Dr. Anderson Presentation Summary

Dr. Anderson Presentation Summary Dr. Anderson based her presentation off of signal function, reliability, and the evolution of animal communication systems. Her research also focuses on whether a behavior is adaptable by determining if it contributes to an animal’s reproductive success. Dr. Anderson began with a brief introduction by defining a signal as any behavioral, physiological, or morphological trait that was fashioned or maintained by natural selection in communicating with others. There is a problem, however, with the ability to signal because one may encounter cheater signalers or unreliable signals. The puzzle is: How is the signal maintained if the animal came to eventually ignore the deceptive signals?
Anderson then went on to describe the focus of her research. She studies song learning as a reliable signal of cognitive ability in sparrows where the males have to learn to sing. How well a male learns a song and reproduces it will ultimately determine the amount of females that it is able to attract. The male sparrows learn their song by listening to other males. They then acquire a neural template or memory that allows them to take the information they have integrated, apply it and then finally learn to sing. This song learning also relates to developmental stress alluding to the fact that since learning depends on pathways in the brain, early environments of stress to a developing sparrow will effect the quality of song a male produces. Within this complex mechanism are two phases of learning the song. The sensory phase deals with the perception or listening to the song and then memorizing the song. The sensorimotor phase is the production and perception phase where the birds sing and listen to their own song. It was interesting how Dr. Anderson noted that these sparrows are close ended learners, so the song they learn in their first year will last for their entire