Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Conditions Affecting Social Space in Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: November 5, 2015
Human group behavior: the ideal free distribution in a three-patch situation
1Faculté de Philosophie, Sciences Humaines et Sociales, Université de Picardie-Jules Verne, Chemin du Thil, Amiens Cedex 1, France. michel.sokolowski@u-picardie.fr
Abstract:
A group of 15 college students was exposed to repeated trials of a task in which money was available for choosing among three colors (blue, red, and green). The amount of winning tokens for each color was varied across phases to test whether group distribution would track the ratio of winning tokens between patches. Confirming previous reports on ideal free performance in humans, group choice proved sensitive to the available resources but tended to undermatch the ratio of winning tokens. The difference-equalization rule of Sokolowski, Tonneau, and Freixa i Baqué [Psychonom. Bull. Rev. 6 (1999) 157] gave a satisfactory fit to the data.
Related Concept Videos
Optimal Foraging
Altruism
Distribution and Dispersion
In- and Out-Groups
Robbers Cave
Social Loafing

