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From dummies to animations: a review of computer-animated stimuli used in animal behavior studies

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Abstract

Traditionally, studies that explored animal communication have been directed towards the observation of natural interactions between individuals. Over the years, researchers have long championed the use of artificial stimuli in place of natural ones in behavioral experiments to precisely control what the observers get to see or experience. The employment of diverse techniques to stage animal interactions has provided an alternative to observations and intrusive experimental methods. Technological advances now allow researchers to develop realistic computer animations of social partners that mimic behaviors with a high degree of fidelity for morphological and behavioral characteristics of tutors. The increasing use of the computer-generated animations technique reveals a desire to deliver standardized visual stimuli and to limit the variable behavior of demonstrators across experimental sessions. In the following review, we provide an appraisal of the computer-generated animations efficiency to stage animal interactions, and consider experimental studies in which this technique has been employed to simulate social interactions. We also present alternative methods that are used for designing animation models. Our aim is to evaluate the merits of computer-generated animations and how this technique may be more appropriate for certain types of staged interactions when compared to other classically employed approaches. We advocate that computer-generated animations appear to be the most flexible technique to date, and offers better control of visual cues that are presented, thus allowing researchers to program a large variety of stimuli. Finally, we suggest improvements of this technique, and especially how it may be used to study signal design in multimodal systems.

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Acknowledgments

K. L. W. was supported by the Macquarie University Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior postgraduate award, the Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP0345643) to Christopher Evans (CISAB), and SUNY Empire State College Faculty Development Award. GR is financially supported by a Fyssen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.

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  1. Empire State College, Metropolitan Center, 325 Hudson Street, New York, NY, 10013-1005, USA

    Kevin L. Woo

  2. Laboratoire Évolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR 5174 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Bâtiment 4R3, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex 9, France

    Guillaume Rieucau

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Woo, K.L., Rieucau, G. From dummies to animations: a review of computer-animated stimuli used in animal behavior studies. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65, 1671–1685 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-011-1226-y

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