A simple mechanism for collective decision-making in the absence of payoff information.

ABSTRACT: Animals are often faced with time-critical decisions without prior information about their actions' outcomes. In such scenarios, individuals budget their investment into the task to cut their losses in case of an adverse outcome. In animal groups, this may be challenging because group members can only access local information, and consensus can only be achieved through distributed interactions among individuals. Here, we combined experimental analyses with theoretical modeling to investigate how groups modulate their investment into tasks in uncertain conditions. Workers of the arboreal weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina form three-dimensional chains using their own bodies to bridge vertical gaps between existing trails and new areas to explore. The cost of a chain increases with its

SUBMITTER: Carlesso D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10629567 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature