Ants and humans: why collaboration is better for ants

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Poor coordination reduces the effectiveness of biological groups. It is hard to compare group cognition with individual cognition, since they typically address different issues.

Ants and humans are both excellent at moving large loads in complex environments, individually and as a group. The task allows us to examine the cognitive and problem-solving abilities of different species.

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science compared individual ants and human groups to solve a geometric puzzle. This team is trying to find out who can maneuver a heavy load better through a maze.

These findings provide new insights on group decision making, and highlight the benefits and disadvantages of individual efforts compared with cooperation.

Humans and ants compete to maneuver a load in a T shape through a maze

Researchers created a “real-world” version of the classic motion planning problem, called the piano movers puzzle. The challenge is to figure out how to get an object with irregular shape, such as a piano from one place to another in a complicated environment. Participants had to move a T-shaped large object through a rectangular space divided into three separate chambers, connected by narrow slits.

The mazes were designed to be different in size, so that they could accommodate the different dimensions of humans, ants and other groups. Human participants were easier to recruit: they were invited to take part, likely because the competition concept appealed. Ants are not competitive. The ants were tricked by the idea that a heavy load would be a delicious morsel they could transport to their nest.

Paratrechina Longicornis is a species of ant that has long antennae, erratic movements, and thus the name “crazy ants”. These small, black, ants are found worldwide, but they’re particularly common along Israel’s southern coast.

In the maze challenge, there were three different setups of ants: one ant, seven ants or more, and 80 ants. The task was also done by humans in three parallel groups: 1 person, 6-9 people, and 26. For fair comparisons some groups of humans were prohibited from communicating verbally, or using gestures. They wore masks and shades to hide facial expressions.

Participants were only allowed to use handles that mimicked the way ants lift loads and equipped with meters for measuring pulling force. Researchers tested each combination multiple times. They used computer simulations and models, as well as tracking data, videos, and computer simulations to gain insights.

In the individual challenge humans excelled, using their strategic planning and cognitive ability to surpass ants. In the group test, however, it was often larger groups of ants that outperformed human teams. The ant groups displayed coordinated and strategic behaviors, displaying collective memory, which helped them to persist in inappropriate directions and avoid repeating errors.

The performance of humans in groups improved little. Their performance decreased compared with individuals when communication was limited to mimicking ant-like situations. People often chose “greedy”, short-term solutions and settled for the lowest possible common denominator. This hindered their long-term progress.

Feinerman said, A colony of ants is like a big family. The ants all have the same interests and are sisters. This is a society where cooperation outweighs the competition. It’s for this reason that an ant colony can be called a “super-organism”, a body made up of many ‘cells,’ which work together.

Our findings confirm this vision. Our findings have shown that grouping ants is smarter, and the totality of their parts are greater for them. Humans’ cognitive ability was not enhanced by forming a group. In our experiment, the ‘wisdom of crowds’ which has become popularized in this age of social media did not come into play.

Journal Reference

  1. Tabea Dreyer, Amir Haluts et al. Comparison of cooperative geometric problem solving by ants and humans. PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2414274121

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