Currency and Constraint

Synonyms

Optimal foraging models; Utility

Definition

In optimality modeling of behavior, “currency” is the variable the model assumes is maximized by natural selection, while “constraints” are the hypothesized environmental, cognitive, or physiological limitations that shape the animal’s ability to maximize currency. The currency and constraints of a model are best considered hypotheses that establish model predictions to be tested with behavioral data.

Introduction

Optimality models of behavior aim to develop testable predictions about the behavioral decisions of organisms under the assumption that natural selection has favored behavior patterns that maximize Darwinian fitness. These models and their predictions arise from two sets of hypotheses that are implicitly or – more helpfully – explicitly described in the model as currencies and constraints. The currency in an optimality model is the net benefit of the behavioral decision hypothesized to be closely related to the animal’s...