Male attention allocation depends on social context

Abstract

AbstractAttention, although limited, is a mechanism used to filter large amounts of information and determine what stimuli are most relevant at a particular moment. In dynamic social environments, multiple individuals may play a pivotal role in any given interaction where a male’s attention may be divided between a rival, a current mate, and/or future potential mates. Here, we investigated impacts of the social environment on attention allocation in male sailfin mollies, Poecilia latipinna, which are a part of a sexual-unisexual mating system with the Amazon molly, Poecilia formosa. We asked: 1) Does the species of female influence the amount of attention a male allocates to her? And 2) Is a male’s attention towards his mate influenced by different social partners? Males direct more attention toward a stimulus female when she was a conspecific. We also show that males perceive a larger male as a more relevant stimulus to pay attention to than a smaller male, and a conspecific female as a more relevant stimulus compared to a heterospecific female. Our results show differential allocation of attention is dependent upon multiple components of the social environment in which an individual interacts.SignificanceThis study investigates how attention is allocated in males when presented with social distractions. Assuming that attentional capacity is finite, males may face a tradeoff between different cognitive-demanding stimuli, such as rival males and potential future mates, when mating. Here, we show that male attention allocation in both intra- and intersexual interactions is multifaceted and context dependent. This suggests that individuals within the social environment vary in how meaningful (i.e., able to capture attention) they are to males during mating encounters. Understanding how social partners can cause a shift of attention away from a mating opportunity is essential to understanding the influence of the social context on sexual selection.