Communication is typically understood as indication: signals that transfer information from sender to receiver. We present a minimal predator avoidance task in which pairs of evolved CTRNN agents use communication for robust survival, and in which agents hear their own vocalizations, as in natural systems. Across 112 perfect-fitness agents from over 2,000 evolutionary runs, three dominant strategies emerge (accounting for 81% of agents): safety calling (39%), where agents signal from safe cover; alarm indication (22%), where agents vocalize when a threat is present without relying on self-hearing; and self-regulatory calling (20%), where agents depend on hearing their own call to sustain escape behavior. Self-hearing dependency is common among agents that call during an active threat (47%), but rare among agents that call only after reaching safe cover (10%; p < 10^-4). This pattern is consistent with a difference in causal order: safety callers act then communicate, while self-regulatory callers communicate in order to act. Removing self-hearing selectively impairs self-regulatory callers (fitness 0.40) while safety callers remain functional (0.90; p < 10^-9). These results show that communication can evolve to serve the caller's own behavioral regulation, not just information transfer to others.

翻译：通信通常被理解为信号传递：即从发送者向接收者传输信息的信号。我们提出了一项最小化捕食者回避任务，其中成对进化的CTRNN（连续时间循环神经网络）智能体通过通信实现稳健生存，且智能体能听到自身发出的声音（与自然系统一致）。在2000多次进化实验中筛选出的112个完美适应度智能体中，出现了三种主导策略（占智能体总数的81%）：安全呼叫（39%，智能体从安全掩体处发出信号）、警报指示（22%，在威胁出现时发声但不依赖自我听觉）以及自我调节式呼叫（20%，智能体依赖听见自身叫声来维持逃跑行为）。在遭遇活跃威胁时发声的智能体中，自我听觉依赖较为普遍（47%），但在仅到达安全掩体后才发声的智能体中较为罕见（10%；p < 10^-4）。这一模式与因果顺序差异一致：安全呼叫者先行动后通信，而自我调节式呼叫者通过通信来驱动行动。移除自我听觉会选择性损害自我调节式呼叫者（适应度0.40），而安全呼叫者仍保持功能（适应度0.90；p < 10^-9）。这些结果表明，通信可以进化为服务于呼叫者自身的行为调节，而不仅仅是向他人传递信息。