ASSESSMENT AND DECISION-MAKING IN ANIMALS - A MECHANISTIC MODEL UNDERLYING BEHAVIORAL FLEXIBILITY CAN PREVENT AMBIGUITY

Understanding how animals make decisions is a fundamental question in behavioral ecology which has cascading effects on how animals respond to environmental variation. An explicit model of the mechanisms of inf ormation processing and decision making can help prevent conflated def initions and ambiguous interpretations. Unambiguous definitions are cr ucial for clear communication between theoreticians and empiricists an d for the rapid advancement of studies of decision making, Moreover, e mploying a clear model of underlying proximal processes will help brid ge the gap between cognitive psychology and behavioral ecology and sho uld aid scientific advancement. We present a simple model to guide stu dies of assessment and decision making. According to the model, indivi duals assess perceived stimuli and evaluate them for useful informatio n. The association between perceived stimuli and evaluated information involves ''assessment rules''. Based on evaluated information, indivi duals can employ trade-offs and make decisions. The association betwee n the result of assessment and observed behavior involves ''decision r ules''. The model clearly emphasizes that the study of decision rules requires knowledge of the results of assessment, and we acknowledge th e difficulty of studying assessment, However, without this knowledge, we can only study decision rules when we assume assessment rules betwe en subjects are identical (i.e., with a uniform group of subjects). Th e simple model can be used to structure the design and interpretation of studies of assessment and decision making and help theoreticians an d empiricists work together to understand behavioral flexibility.