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The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior
Published on: January 19, 2019
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Individual and collective foraging in autonomous search agents with human intervention
Daniel S Schloesser1, Derek Hollenbeck2, Christopher T Kello3
1Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, USA. dschloesser@ucmerced.edu.
Scientific Reports
|April 20, 2021
Summary
Intelligent agents benefit from flexible switching between independent and collective behaviors. Loose coupling in simulated social foraging enhanced group performance by balancing distancing and flocking, with human intervention further improving results.
Area of Science:
- Collective intelligence
- Behavioral ecology
- Computational social science
Background:
- Complex organisms display both individual and group intelligent behaviors.
- Flexible switching between independent and collective action is crucial for adaptation.
- Social foraging tasks can benefit from both distancing (resource detection) and flocking (resource consumption).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate behavioral flexibility between independent and collective modes in simulated social foraging.
- To determine the optimal balance between distancing and flocking for foraging success.
- To assess the impact of human cognitive abilities on group foraging performance.
Main Methods:
- Simulated ten foraging agents in a social foraging task.
- Implemented "loose coupling" to balance distancing and flocking behaviors.
- Introduced human players to control individual agents and observe their adaptive strategies.
Main Results:
- Loose coupling enhanced group foraging performance by enabling fluid switching between groupings.
- Distancing promoted faster resource detection, while flocking facilitated faster consumption.
- Human intervention significantly improved group performance, especially with loosely coupled agents.
- Human players adapted their search modes (independent vs. collective) based on agent dynamics.
Conclusions:
- Adaptive flexibility in switching between independent and collective behaviors is key for optimizing social foraging.
- Loose coupling provides a mechanism for balancing competing demands in group tasks.
- Human cognitive flexibility further enhances group foraging efficiency in dynamic environments.
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