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Is it relevant?

We see, hear and feel things all the time, but we only notice and react to a very tiny portion of what goes on around us. If we reacted to everything we would quickly run out of energy to do anything else. It's therefore important that our brains can sort input (what we perceive with our senses) effectively, so that we only put energy in to noticing and reacting to things that are likely to be relevant to us. What is relevant to an individual depends on, among other things:

• The natural history of the species

• Life stage

• Life history (previous experiences and learning)

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Natural history
All animals have evolved to be well adapted for life in a certain environment. Different species have evolved different sensory capacities and also different pre-dispositions to notice certain things that might be relevant for their ability to survive in their natural environment. Most parrots are much more likely to notice and react to a bird of prey soaring up high before a human does - both because of their visual aquity and field of vision, but also because, from a natural history viewpoint, noticing a bird of preyt might be the difference between life and death for a parrot, while it typically isn't relevant to the safety of a human. The takeaway here is to keep in mind that there are many things that parrots are much more likely to pay attention to, even if we're able to perceive them, that we don't notice or pay attention to simply because of our very different evolutionary histories. When we are trying to figure out what environmental change led to a certain change in the body language or behavior of a parrot, this is very important to keep in mind. Learning about the natural history of a species and what might be relevant to them from an evolutionary perspective enables us to practice noticing things in the environment that we normally wouldn't pay attention to. This is an extremely valuable skill when working with parrots.

Life stage
What is relevant to us also changes during our lifetimes. A baby parrot will notice and react to different things (and in different ways) than an adult parrot. The same goes for an adult parrot in breeding condition versus one that isn't.

Learning
Past experiences also plays a big part in what we notice, of course. We can habituate to some things that end up not being worth our attention, and being sensitized to others. Someone that has an intense spider phobia might notice and react even to a moving dust rat that vaguely resembles a spider, while someone that couldn't care less about similar critters wouldn't. During our lives we learn that certain things are relevant because they lead to or are associated with other relevant things. I respond to my own ring tone because I know that one is relevant, but not other ones. I instantly notice my partners voice in a crowd, something that some parrots are also good at. I also react to someone saying my name, because I've learned that is often relevant to me. Similarly, if someone has had a bad experience they are usually very good at noticing and reacting to other things that might be have been associated with that experience.

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Lastly, it's important to note that not everything we perceive comes from outside ourselves. Interoception - the perception of things that go on inside the body also plays a part in how we behave. Perceiving pain, fatigue, hunger or thirst are all notable examples of how our internal environment influences how we react to what goes on outside of us. A parrot might respond very differently when a hand is presented for it to step up on depending on if it is in pain or not. This will be explored further in part four.

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In summary, it's not always clear to us exactly what in the environment is causing a certain change in behavior, and it can sometimes be difficult for humans to perceive the small changes in body language that often preceed bigger reactions.  
If we do see a reaction, however, we can be sure something happened. Behavior always occurrs in a context.