In this Book
- Optical Signals: Animal Communication and Light
- Book
- 1977
- Published by: Indiana University Press
-
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

summary
Why do visual signals have the characteristics that they do? Why do animals (including man) gesture, posture, and move in communicative fashions? Why are animals colored and patterned in particular ways? Optical Signals is the first attempt to answer these and related questions. After presenting a synthetic framework of social communication, ethology, mathematical information theory, and semiotics, Hailman explains the relevant background: considerations of the physics of light that carry information from sender to receiver, and properties that limit the receiver's ability to get and send information encoded in light. Next Hailman puts together data from different disciplines in order to discover the "design characteristics" of optical signals. The major part of the book concerns these design characteristics and factors that influence them: behavioral patterns and coloration that look like visual signals but are not, principles of visual deception, and the way in which the physical and biological environment structures the characteristics of signals. Lastly, the book considers how the message being transmitted influences the design of the signal itself.
Table of Contents

- Half Title Page
- pp. i-ii
- Title Page
- p. iii
- Dedication
- pp. v-vi
- List of Figures
- pp. viii-xii
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- pp. xiii-xiv
- Half Title Page
- p. 1
- Chapter 1 Contents
- p. 2
- Chapter 1. Introduction
- pp. 3-19
- Chapter 2 Contents
- p. 20
- Chapter 2. Communication
- pp. 21-53
- Chapter 3 Contents
- p. 54
- Chapter 3. The Channel
- pp. 55-89
- Chapter 4 Contents
- p. 90
- Chapter 4. The Sender
- pp. 91-115
- Chapter 5 Contents
- p. 116
- Chapter 5. The Receiver
- pp. 117-155
- Chapter 6 Contents
- p. 156
- Chapter 6. Deception
- pp. 157-189
- Chapter 7 Contents
- p. 190
- Chapter 7. Noise
- pp. 191-247
- Chapter 8 Contents
- p. 248
- Chapter 8. Information
- pp. 249-301
- Chapter 9 Contents
- p. 302
- Chapter 9. Conclusion
- pp. 303-316
- Literature Cited and Indexed
- pp. 321-336
- Index to Persons
- pp. 337-341
- Index to Animals, Index to Subjects
- pp. 342-362
Additional Information
ISBN
9780253050731
MARC Record
OCLC
1259584557
Launched on MUSE
2021-07-11
Language
English
Open Access
Yes
Creative Commons
CC-BY-NC-ND