title: Visual and acoustic communication in non-human animals: a comparison.
abstract: The visual and auditory systems are two major sensory modalities employed in communication. Although communication in these two sensory modalities can serve analogous functions and evolve in response to similar selection forces, the two systems also operate under different constraints imposed by the environment and the degree to which these sensory modalities are recruited for non-communication functions. Also, the research traditions in each tend to differ, with studies of mechanisms of acoustic communication tending to take a more reductionist tack often concentrating on single signal parameters, and studies of visual communication tending to be more concerned with multivariate signal arrays in natural environments and higher level processing of such signals. Each research tradition would benefit by being more expansive in its approach.
authors.affiliation: Section of Integrative Biology C0930, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception; D003144:Communication Barriers; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D009799:Ocular Physiological Phenomena; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010786:Photoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D013045:Species Specificity; D014796:Visual Perception; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*