Consensus or Deadlock? Consequences of Simple Behavioral Rules for Coordination in Group Decisions.

ABSTRACT: Coordinated collective behaviors often emerge from simple rules governing the interactions of individuals in groups. We model mechanisms of coordination among ants during cooperative transport, a challenging task that requires a consensus on travel direction. Our goal is to determine whether groups following simple behavioral rules can reach a consensus using minimal information. Using deterministic and stochastic models, we investigate behavioral factors that affect coordination. We define and investigate three types of behavioral rules governing individual behavior that differ in the information available: individuals either 1) have no information, 2) can measure transport success, or 3) measure success while also knowing whether they are aligned with the majority. We find that groups br

SUBMITTER: McCreery HF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5040253 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature