Concordance of movements and songs enhances receiver responses to multimodal display in the starling

Abstract

Many animals produce signals that consist of vocalizations and movements to attract mates or deter rivals. We usually consider them as components of a single multimodal signal because they are temporally coordinated. Sometimes, however, this relationship takes on a more complex spatiotemporal character, resembling choreographed music. Timing is important for audio-visual integration, but choreographic concordance requires even more skill and competence from the signaller. Concordance should therefore have a strong impact on receivers; however, little is known about its role in audio-visual perception during natural interactions. We studied the effects of movement and song type concordance in audio-visual displays of the starling, Sturnus vulgaris. Starlings produce two types of movements that naturally appear in specific phrases of songs with a similar temporal structure and amplitude. In an experiment with a taxidermic robotic model, males responded more to concordant audio-visual displays, which are also naturally preferred, than to discordant displays. In contrast, the effect of concordance was independent of the specific combination of movement and song types in a display. Our results indicate that the concordance of movements and songs was critical to the efficacy of the display and suggest that the information that birds gained from concordance could not be obtained by adding information from movements and songs.