Confidence sharing: an economic strategy for efficient information flows in animal groups.

ABSTRACT: Social animals may share information to obtain a more complete and accurate picture of their surroundings. However, physical constraints on communication limit the flow of information between interacting individuals in a way that can cause an accumulation of errors and deteriorated collective behaviors. Here, we theoretically study a general model of information sharing within animal groups. We take an algorithmic perspective to identify efficient communication schemes that are, nevertheless, economic in terms of communication, memory and individual internal computation. We present a simple and natural algorithm in which each agent compresses all information it has gathered into a single parameter that represents its confidence in its behavior. Confidence is communicated between agents by

SUBMITTER: Korman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4183420 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature