How vision governs the collective behaviour of dense cycling pelotons.

ABSTRACT: In densely packed groups demonstrating collective behaviour, such as bird flocks, fish schools or packs of bicycle racers (cycling pelotons), information propagates over a network, with individuals sensing and reacting to stimuli over relatively short space and time scales. What remains elusive is a robust, mechanistic understanding of how sensory system properties affect interactions, information propagation and emergent behaviour. Here, we show through direct observation how the spatio-temporal limits of the human visual sensory system govern local interactions and set the network structure in large, dense collections of cyclists. We found that cyclists align in patterns within a ± 30° arc corresponding to the human near-peripheral visual field, in order to safely accommodate motion pert

SUBMITTER: Belden J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6685023 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature