Factors affecting information transfer from knowledgeable to naive individuals in groups |
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Authors: | Vincent Mirabet Pierre Fréon Christophe Lett |
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Institution: | (1) Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive (UMR 5558), CNRS, Univ. Lyon 1, 43, bd 11 nov, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France;(2) ENS Lyon RDP (UMR 5667), 46 allée d’Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex, France;(3) UR097 Ecosystèmes d’Upwelling, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale, Avenue Jean Monnet, BP 171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France |
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Abstract: | There is evidence that individuals in animal groups benefit from the presence of knowledgeable group members in different
ways. Experiments and computer simulations have shown that a few individuals within a group can lead others, for a precise
task and at a specific moment. As a group travels, different individuals possessing a particular knowledge may act as temporary
leaders, so that the group will, as a whole, follow their behaviour. In this paper, we use a model to study different factors
influencing group response to temporary leadership. The model is based on four individual behaviours. Three of those, attraction,
repulsion, and alignment, are shared by all individuals. The last one, attraction toward the source of a stimulus, concerns
only a fraction of the group members. We explore the influence of group size, proportion of stimulated individuals, number
of influential neighbours, and intensity of the attraction to the source of the stimulus, on the proportion of the group reaching
this source. Special attention is given to the simulation of large group size, close to those observed in nature. Groups of
100, 400 and 900 individuals are currently simulated, and up to 8,000 in one experiment. We show that more stimulated individuals
and a larger group size both induce the arrival of a larger fraction of the group. The number of influential neighbours and
the intensity of the stimulus have a non-linear influence on the proportion of the group arrival, displaying first a positive
relationship and then, above a given threshold, a negative one. We conclude that an intermediate level of group cohesion provides
optimal transfer information from knowledgeable to naive individuals. |
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Keywords: | Individual-based model Group Stimulus |
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