Attention-like processes in insects

Abstract

Attention is fundamentally important for sensory systems to focus on behaviourally relevant stimuli. It has therefore been an important field of study in human psychology and neuroscience. Primates, however, are not the only animals that might benefit from attention-like processes. Other animals, including insects, also have to use their senses and select one among many stimuli to forage, avoid predators and find mates. They have evolved different mechanisms to reduce the information processed by their brains to focus on only relevant stimuli. What are the mechanisms used by insects to selectively attend to visual and auditory stimuli? Do these attention-like mechanisms achieve the same functions as they do in primates? To investigate these questions, I use an established framework for investigating attention in non-human animals that proposes four fundamental components of attention: salience filters, competitive selection, top-down sensitivity control and working memory. I discuss evidence for each of these component processes in insects and compare the characteristics of these processes in insects to what we know from primates. Finally, I highlight important outstanding questions about insect attention that need to be addressed for us to understand the differences and similarities between vertebrate and insect attention.

Interactive rhythms across species: the evolutionary biology of animal chorusing and turn‐taking

“…13,18 We argue that findings do not need to be weighted by phylogenetic distance from humans, and many examples of animal turn-taking 9,19,21,24 are still interesting in their own merit without advocating cooperation or social cognition. "Lower level" processes, such as attention, 30 signal masking, 35,77 and fixed time lags 31 may suffice to explain much of animal turn-taking behavior. In particular, animal chorusing, as long as this is not defined as "a cacophony of sounds," 13 may provide a broader biological foundation for turn-taking without assuming intentionality.…”

“…40,74,90 This mapping is complex, nonlinear, and a potential subject for exciting future research. It must include at least four explanatory levels, illustrating (1) how neural processes occur within an individual nervous system (e.g., oscillations, predictive coding, and climbing neural activity [94][95][96][97][98] ); (2) possibly supporting different cognitive mechanisms; 13,14,30,40,60,74 (3) which result in a range of individual timing patterns that can be measured behaviorally; 12,37,45,46,49 and that (4) shape and are shaped by interindividual interaction. 14,39,71,98…”

“…These comparative efforts may offer valuable insights, but several issues need to be carefully monitored when investigating turn‐taking in nonhuman species. In particular, we argue that (1) turn‐taking may add a new (semantic and pragmatic) dimension to animal interactive communication, but in its temporal‐rhythmic dimension it is nonetheless only a part of the general collective activity known as chorusing; (2) some concepts from human turn‐taking are challenging to extend to all animals because they are still debated in (comparative) cognitive psychology, such as intentionality or cognitive flexibility/complexity: instead, attention‐like processes, such as salience filters and competitive selection, signal masking, and fixed time lags may suffice to explain much of animal interactive behavior; and (3) turn‐taking—if defined as signal alternations, in all their nuances (Table )—does not require cooperation in living species or in hominin history. In fact, noncooperative coordination and competition often drive animal interactive displays .…”

Brood-holding causes workers to pay attention to the queen in the carpenter ant Camponotus japonicus

“…Recent studies in several insects have revealed attention-like processes involved in selection of one among many visual and auditory stimuli (van Swindern and Greenspan, 2003; Spaethe et al ., 2006; Wiederman and O’ Carroll, 2013; de Bivort and van Swindern, 2016), and careful comparisons of the mechanistic similarities between insects and primates have been carried out (cf. Nityananda, 2016). Very little work, however, has been published on olfactory attention.…”

Decision‐making and motor control in predatory insects: a review of the praying mantis

“…When there is more than one target, predatory insects must decide on which one to orient towards (e.g. Rossel, 1996;Wiederman & O'Carroll, 2013;Nityananda, 2016). They must also avoid inedible or toxic prey (e.g.…”