Answers to the reading theory exercise
Make sure you have read your handout (or download the handout here) for the summary of this paper.
Question 1: In this model, can uninformed individuals distinguish between other uninformed individuals and informed individuals? If you aren’t sure, which of these assumptions would make the results stronger (that is, which assumption would make the results more relevant to real fish schools)?
This model assumes that fish cannot distinguish between informed and uninformed individuals. Their social interaction with either type is the same. The results are more interesting and the relevance to real fish schools is stronger if this is indeed the assumption.
Question 2: In the scenarios where two informed groups have different preferred directions, what do you think would happen if the informed fish could adjust their behaviors, e.g. they put more weight on their preferred direction when the group is traveling in a similar direction and put less weight on their preference when it deviates from the group’s decision?
We hope this question got you thinking. In the real paper, the authors explore this situation in the paper and found that “Such a feedback loop allows consensus decisions (as opposed to averaging) for smaller differences in preferred direction.”
Question 3: Are there other systems where these assumptions might fit well enough for us to apply the insights here to their group decision making?
Migrating land animals and birds, but in some of those systems group members may be able to recognize informed individuals. This model has helped some to think about the political dynamics of human communities as well.
Question 4: In this model, the only external source of information is the direction the informed individuals are aware of and are attracted towards. In reality, an external source of
information may be repulsive instead of attractive, such as if informed individuals are repelled by a predator trailing the school of fish. Describe one way of implementing such a mechanism in the model so that the predator is always “chasing” the school of fish.
I would have an external point representing the predator that is constantly attracted toward the “center of mass” of all the fishes (as opposed to any particular individual), so that if the group temporarily splits, the predator can still follow them.