Summary: Perception can cause the evolution of certain traits, a new study reports.
Source: LSU Health.
In an invited perspective published January 6, 2017, in Science, Hamilton Farris, PhD, Associate Professor-Research at LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence, finds that the key insight of an important study by Nachev, et al. is that perception can drive the evolution of observable traits.
“The study integrated field and laboratory experiments with computer simulations to explain how perceptual mechanisms in a pollinator – a bat – can cause the evolution of counterintuitive traits in flowers,” notes Farris.
Farris explains that understanding perceptual abilities, including the ability to notice differences in stimuli, is critical to understanding the evolution of observable traits, and proportional perception plays a key role. To be noticeable, the difference between two stimuli must not be constant, but rather proportional to its physical magnitude. Using proportions to compare ever larger stimuli makes it more difficult to perceive stimulus changes however; as a large stimulus increases, perception of its size or value appears to remain the same.
“For example, you can easily tell the difference between a 1-lb. weight and a 2-lb. weight,” says Farris, “but not between a 50-lb weight and a 51-lb. weight even though the absolute difference is the same. In that way, proportional perception can provide limits to the evolution of traits.”
This study examined how flowers evolve diluted nectar, even though bats prefer higher concentrations of sugar. It successfully integrated psychophysics and evolutionary biology.
“This integration is long overdue,” Farris concludes. “Even though proportional perception has been studied for more than a hundred years, it is still unknown how selection alters those proportions in different species and whether the underlying neural mechanisms are shared. Integrating psychology with evolutionary biology will result in a better understanding of how perception works and how traits evolve, and not just in animals. How humans look, sound and smell could be a result of how our eyes, ears and nose perceive the world.”
Source: Leslie Capo – LSU Health
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the LSU Health press release.
Original Research: Abstract for “Perception drives the evolution of observable traits” by Hamilton Farris in Science. Published online January 6 2017 doi:10.1126/science.aal4193
[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]LSU Health “While Not Necessarily Reality, Perception Can Cause Reality to Evolve.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 6 January 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/perception-reality-neuroscience-5880/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]LSU Health (2017, January 6). While Not Necessarily Reality, Perception Can Cause Reality to Evolve. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved January 6, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/perception-reality-neuroscience-5880/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]LSU Health “While Not Necessarily Reality, Perception Can Cause Reality to Evolve.” https://neurosciencenews.com/perception-reality-neuroscience-5880/ (accessed January 6, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]
Abstract
Perception drives the evolution of observable traits
The phrase “perception is reality” is used in many contexts but is often not true. For example, human inability to perceive ultraviolet light does not negate its reality. Nevertheless, perception can cause reality to evolve. This is the insight of the study by Nachev et al. on page 75 of this issue (1). The authors integrated field and laboratory experiments with computer simulations to explain how perceptual mechanisms in a pollinator—a bat—can cause the evolution of counterintuitive traits in flowers.
“Perception drives the evolution of observable traits” by Hamilton Farris in Science. Published online January 6 2017 doi:10.1126/science.aal4193
