Through their eyes: selective attention in peahens during courtship
Open accessAbstract
Conspicuous, multicomponent ornamentation in male animals can be favored by female mate choice but we know little about the cognitive processes females use to evaluate these traits. Sexual selection may favor attention mechanisms allowing the choosing females to selectively and efficiently acquire relevant information from complex male display traits and, in turn, may favor male display traits that effectively capture and hold female attention. Using a miniaturized telemetric gaze-tracker, we show that peahens (Pavo cristatus) selectively attend to specific components of peacock courtship displays and virtually ignore other, highly conspicuous components. Females gazed at the lower train but largely ignored the head, crest and upper train. When the lower train was obscured, however, females spent more time gazing at the upper train and approached the upper train from a distance. Our results suggest that peahens mainly evaluate the lower train during close-up courtship but use the upper train as a long-distance attraction signal. Furthermore, we found that behavioral display components (train rattling and wing shaking) captured and maintained female attention, indicating that interactions between display components may promote the evolution of multicomponent displays. Taken together, these findings suggest that selective attention plays a crucial role in sexual selection and likely influences the evolution of male display traits.
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Train-rattling always precedes copulation.
“and always precedes copulation [14].”
From Biomechanics of the Peacock’s Display: How Feather Structure and Resonance Influence Multimodal Signaling (2016) · cites this paper as [15]
The Introduction (page unavailable) describes train-rattling as part of the courtship sequence and says females may then choose to mate. It does not establish that train-rattling always precedes copulation; the Results and Discussion (page unavailable) report copulations but do not link every one to a preceding rattle. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe train-rattling display attracts the peahen's visual attention.
“This “train-rattling” display attracts the peahen’s visual attention [15]”
From Biomechanics of the Peacock’s Display: How Feather Structure and Resonance Influence Multimodal Signaling (2016) · cites this paper as [15]
Train-rattling attracts a peahen's gaze.
“Given that train-rattling always precedes copulation, and attracts a peahen’s gaze [15]”
From Biomechanics of the Peacock’s Display: How Feather Structure and Resonance Influence Multimodal Signaling (2016) · cites this paper as [15]
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- Authors
- Yorzinski, J. L., Patricelli, G. L., Babcock, J. S., Pearson, J. M., & Platt, M. L.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Positive Science, LLC, New York City, NY 10028, USA
- Corresponding author
- Yorzinski, Jessica L.
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- Publisher
- The Company of Biologists
- Published
- 2013-08-15
- Volume
- 216
- Issue
- 16
- Pages
- 3035-3046
- ISSN
- 0022-0949 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-9145
- PMC
- PMC4074220
- OpenAlex
- W1969326654
- Cited by
- 100
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 12.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Biology (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH096875)
- Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Keywords
- selective attention, female mate choice, sexual selection, male ornamentation, gaze behavior, Pavo cristatus
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Attention, Birds, Courtship, Female, Fixation, Ocular, Male, Sexual Behavior, Animal, Telemetry, Visual Perception, Reproducibility of Results
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