Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on Journal blog. Animals make decisions based recognition, discrimination and assessment of stimuli in various behavioural contexts, such as foraging (Farhadinia et al., 2020; Frank & Linsenmair, 2017; Ishii 2019; Kaczorowski 2012; Prat Yovel, Ravi 2016), female mate-choice (Bo-jian 2018; Kubec Stoffer Walker, 2012) parasitism (Roncalli Thie...