General
Is attention limited?
Yes
When searching for prey, what is more important: speed or accuracy?
Predators face a trade-off between speed and accuracy. Searching faster can increase prey encounters, but searching too fast may cause prey to be missed.
What is the term for a predator repeatedly targeting the same prey type even when other prey are available?
Priming
What are the costs associated with dividing attention?
Dividing attention can increase the risk of being caught by a predator and reduce feeding efficiency.
Is ‘searching for a specific person in a crowd’ an example of top-down or bottom-up attention?
Top-down
Bonus 100 points: Give an example of bottom-down attention.
True or False: Luc Tinbergen discovered in 1960 that when insects are first added to an environment, they will not be preyed on.
True
Bonus 100 points: What happens when the prey's abundance increases?
True or false: Priming is always short-lived.
False: priming can be either short- or long-lived.
How does living in a group benefit an individual's attention and reduce predation risk?
Shared vigilience: Each individual in a group does not have to take so much attention away from foraging for vigilance because others can warn them of approaching predators.
Confusion effect: By being in a group of similar-looking individuals, the potential prey animal benefits from the ability to confuse a predator.
Is a target easier to spot when there is a single feature or a conjunction of features?
Single feature
Do scientists think that animals search selectively for prey?
Yes - It is thought that animals develop a search image, allowing them to become better at spotting a particular type of prey after repeated encounters. However, this can inhibit the detection of other prey types.
Who is more likely to have a survival advantage in a predator-prey system: a rare or a common species?
A rare species
What is the confusion effect?
This is a survival strategy used by prey where they gather in large schools, swarms or flocks of similar individuals. It makes it harder for predators to target and capture the prey.
What are the two stages of the feature integrated theory?
First, the pre-attentive stage: automatic detection of specific, individual features, e.g., colour, shape and motion.
Second, the focused attention stage: attention is directed to an object’s location in space, allowing the features to be combined into a complete object.
What is the search rate hypothesis?
Without a search image: A predator searching slowly should detect all prey types equally, regardless of how cryptic they are.
With a search image: A predator should focus on one prey type, increasing detection of that type while ignoring others, even if all prey types are equally cryptic.
What is a strategy prey use to avoid being detected by primed predators?
Polymorphism - when a species has multiple colours or patterns, then a predator cannot easily form a single search image of the prey. If a predator focuses on one morph, the other morphs gain a survival advantage.
Do swarming or schooling species tend to show sexual dimorphism?
No
Bonus 100 points: Why?