Collective conflict resolution in groups on the move.

Area of Science:

• Collective behavior
• Theoretical biology
• Animal group dynamics

Background:

• Groups of animals and cells make collective decisions about movement direction.
• Conflicting preferences within subgroups lead to compromise or target selection.
• The transition dynamics of these decisions remain poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To theoretically investigate the transition in collective decision-making for mobile animal groups.
• To identify the critical factors influencing the shift in group motion dynamics.
• To understand the role of uninformed individuals and noise in decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Combined computational simulations with a spin model for mobile animal groups.
• Analyzed group motion transitioning from Brownian to persistent collective motion.
• Investigated the effect of varying the number of uninformed individuals (noise).

Main Results:

• Identified a critical angular difference triggering the transition in decision-making.
• The transition coincides with a shift from Brownian to persistent collective motion.
• Increased uninformed individuals (acting as inverse noise) drive this transition.

Conclusions:

• The spin model effectively captures collective decision-making transitions in groups.
• Noise level dictates a trade-off between decision speed and achieving consensus.
• Group size inequality influences the tendency to reach a preferred target.