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Neurobiological theories of spatial cognition developed with respect to recording data from relatively small and/or simplistic environments compared to animals' natural habitats. It has been unclear how to extend theoretical models to large or complex spaces. Complementarily, in autonomous systems technology, applications have been growing for distributed control methods that scale to large numbers of lowfootprint mobile platforms. Animals and many-robot groups must solve common problems of navigating complex and uncertain environments. Here, we introduce the 'NeuroSwarms' control framework to investigate whether adaptive, autonomous swarm control of minimal artificial agents can be achieved by direct analogy to neural circuits of rodent spatial cognition. NeuroSwarms analogizes agents to neurons and swarming groups to recurrent networks. We implemented neuron-like agent interactions in which mutually visible agents operate as if they were reciprocally-connected place cells in an attractor network. We attributed a phase state to agents to enable patterns of oscillatory synchronization similar to hippocampal models of theta-rhythmic (5-12 Hz) sequence generation. We demonstrate that multi-agent swarming and rewardapproach dynamics can be expressed as a mobile form of Hebbian learning and that NeuroSwarms supports a single-entity paradigm that directly informs theoretical models of animal cognition. We present emergent behaviors including phase-organized rings and trajectory sequences that interact with environmental cues and geometry in large, fragmented mazes. Thus, Neu-roSwarms is a model artificial spatial system that integrates autonomous control and theoretical neuroscience to potentially uncover common principles to advance both domains.

The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between straight-sprint and change-of-direction performance. Total sprinting time and split time at 5 m were collected from 44 college football players during a 15-m straight sprint (SS15m) and a 15-m zigzag sprint with two 60° changes of direction (COD15m). Differences in sprinting time between COD15m and SS15m and between COD5m and SS5m were expressed as percentage of decrement at 5 m and 15 m (Δ%5m and Δ%15m). Significant and high correlations emerged between SS15m and COD15m (r = .86, P < .0001), SS5m and SS15m (r = .92, P < .0001), SS5m and COD5m (r = .92, P < .0001), and COD5m and COD15m (r = .71, P < .0001). Δ%5m and Δ%15m showed a range of 1.2–30.0% and 34.9–59.4%, respectively. These results suggested how straight-sprint and change-of-direction performance are similar abilities in college football players, in particular when a smaller angle of the change of direction is considered. Moreover, it seems necessary to have athletes undergo tests that mimic the demands of football game, which is characterized by sprint on short distances and with changes of direction.

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