Leger D W
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68588-0308.
Psychol Bull. 1993 Mar;113(2):295-304. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.113.2.295.
The response of signal recipients depends on information found in the signal itself and on other information sources known collectively as context. Context is the set of events, conditions, and changeable recipient characteristics that modify the effect of a signal on recipients' behavior. Sources of contextual information include (a) the characteristics of the recipient and (b) sources external to the recipient (the signaler and the setting). Contextual information is most commonly used when the signal itself does not provide enough information for the recipient to behave adaptively. The signal's referent may be ambiguous or deceptive, or recipients may need additional information to fine-tune their responses. When animal signals were thought to be information poor, contextual information was seen as being critically informative. Animal signals are now known to be much more informative, but even information-rich systems, such as human language, depend heavily on contextual sources of information.
信号接收者的反应取决于信号本身所包含的信息以及其他被统称为背景的信息来源。背景是一系列事件、条件和可变的接收者特征，它们会改变信号对接收者行为的影响。背景信息的来源包括：（a）接收者的特征，以及（b）接收者外部的来源（信号发送者和环境）。当信号本身没有为接收者提供足够信息以使其适应性地行动时，背景信息最常被使用。信号的指代可能模糊或具有欺骗性，或者接收者可能需要额外信息来微调他们的反应。当动物信号被认为信息匮乏时，背景信息被视为具有关键的信息量。现在已知动物信号包含的信息要多得多，但即使是像人类语言这样信息丰富的系统，也严重依赖背景信息来源。
