CAREER: Perception of Asymmetry and its Role in Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology

职业：不对称性的认知及其在进化行为生态学中的作用约翰·P·斯瓦德这个职业发展计划整合了研究和教育活动，以解决与进化生物学广泛相关的问题，同时也为本科生提供发展自己独立研究技能的机会。该计划采用了一种多学科的新颖方法，以解决鸟类是否可以使用不对称(即身体左侧和右侧之间的微小差异)作为健康的视觉提示(例如，当评估彼此为潜在配偶时)。这些微小的不对称是由发育过程中的意外事件引起的，人们认为这些不对称反映了一个人对其成长环境的适应程度。由于更大的不对称意味着更多的事故，研究人员研究了女性是否优先选择与对称的男性交配，而避免不对称的男性。如果鸟类在自然界中使用不对称作为线索，它们的关键感知任务是区分不对称和对称。如果他们不能做到这一点，不对称就不能成为直接的暗示。因此，这项研究着眼于鸟类是否能够通过与鸟类的自然生态相关的一系列不同的感知任务来检测对称性。对称性检测将在两种常见的鸟类身上进行研究--欧洲八哥和斑马雀。这些实验旨在评估什么形式的不对称与鸟类相关，什么程度的不对称可以与完美对称区分开来，并探索对称偏好是否会作为物体识别的其他感知机制的副产品(即独立于不对称和适应性之间的任何联系)而产生。因此，这项研究将有助于评估不对称对进化过程的重要性。本科生将参与到这项工作的方方面面。我的教育目标是通过密切的指导和独立研究项目的机会，培养一个强大的、富有成效的本科生科学家社区。我的教育计划包括几项新的倡议，将研究活动融入我的本科课程--包括解决问题的活动、辩论、研讨会、知名客座讲师，以及几次对国家博物馆和学术机构的研究访问。学生们还将在国内和国际会议上与我一起展示他们的研究成果，并与我一起进行几次国际研究旅行。这些活动的目的不仅是为了武装学生更多的研究和认知技能，而且还为了增加对科学的保留，并帮助学生追求未来的科学职业。我的教育计划的效果将通过严格的定性和定量技术进行评估。

CAREER: Perception of asymmetry and its role in evolutionary behavioral ecologyJohn P. SwaddleThis career development plan integrates research and education activities to address a question of broad relevance to evolutionary biology while also giving undergraduate students opportunities to develop their own independent research skills. The plan adopts a multidisciplinary, novel approach to address whether birds can use asymmetries (i.e. small differences between the left and right sides of the body) as visual cues of fitness (e.g. when assessing each other as potential mates). These small asymmetries arise due to accidents in development and are believed to reflect how well an individual is adapted to the environment in which it grows. As larger asymmetries indicate more accidents, researchers have studied whether females preferentially choose to mate with symmetric males and avoid asymmetric males. If birds use asymmetry as a cue in nature, their key perceptual task is to discriminate asymmetry from symmetry. If they cannot do this, asymmetry cannot be a direct cue. Hence, this research addresses whether birds are capable of detecting symmetry across a range of different perceptual tasks that are relevant to the birds' natural ecology. Symmetry detection will be studied in two common bird species - European starlings Sturnus vulgaris and zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata. The experiments are designed to assess what forms of asymmetry are relevant to the birds, what magnitudes of asymmetry can be discriminated from perfect symmetry, and also explore whether a symmetry preference can arise as a by-product of other perceptual mechanisms for object recognition (i.e. independent of any association between asymmetry and fitness). Hence, this research will contribute greatly to assessing the importance of asymmetry to evolutionary processes.Undergraduate students will be involved with all aspects of the work. My educational objectives are to grow a strong, productive community of undergraduate scientists through close mentorship and opportunities for independent research projects. My educational plans include several new initiatives to integrate research activities into my undergraduate classes - including problem-solving activities, debates, workshops, high-profile guest instructors, and several research visits to national museums and academic institutions. Students will also present their research with me at national and international conferences, and join me on several international research trips. These activities are designed not only to arm students with a greater array of research and cognitive skills, but also to increase retention in the sciences and help students to pursue future scientific careers. The efficacy of my educational plans will be assessed through rigorous qualitative and quantitative techniques.