Laan Andress, Gil de Sagredo Raul, de Polavieja Gonzalo G
Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Champalimaud Center for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal
Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Champalimaud Center for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal.
Proc Biol Sci. 2017 Apr 12;284(1852). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0224.
Animals moving in groups coordinate their motion to remain cohesive. A large amount of data and analysis of movement coordination has been obtained in several species, but we are lacking theoretical frameworks that can derive the form of coordination rules. Here, we examine whether optimal control theory can predict the rules underlying social interactions from first principles. We find that a control rule which is designed to minimize the time it would take a pair of schooling fish to form a cohesively moving unit correctly predicts the characteristics of social interactions in fish. Our methodology explains why social attraction is negatively modulated by self-motion velocity and positively modulated by partner motion velocity, and how the biomechanics of fish swimming can shape the form of social forces. Crucially, the values of all parameters in our model can be estimated from independent experiments that need not relate to measurement of social interactions. We test our theory by showing a good match with experimentally observed social interaction rules in zebrafish. In addition to providing a theoretical rationale for observed decision rules, we suggest that this framework opens new questions about tuning problems and learnability of collective behaviours.
成群活动的动物会协调它们的运动以保持凝聚力。在几个物种中已经获得了大量关于运动协调的数据和分析，但我们缺乏能够推导协调规则形式的理论框架。在这里，我们研究最优控制理论是否能从第一原理预测社会互动背后的规则。我们发现，一种旨在最小化一对集群鱼类形成一个协同移动单元所需时间的控制规则，能够正确预测鱼类社会互动的特征。我们的方法解释了为什么社会吸引力会受到自身运动速度的负调制以及伙伴运动速度的正调制，以及鱼类游泳的生物力学如何塑造社会力的形式。至关重要的是，我们模型中所有参数的值都可以从独立实验中估计出来，这些实验无需与社会互动的测量相关。我们通过展示与斑马鱼实验观察到的社会互动规则的良好匹配来检验我们的理论。除了为观察到的决策规则提供理论依据外，我们还认为这个框架为集体行为的调整问题和可学习性提出了新的问题。
