Functional duality in group criticality via ambiguous interactions

Abstract

Critical phenomena are wildly observed in living systems. If the system is at criticality, it can quickly transfer information and achieve optimal response to external stimuli. Especially, animal collective behavior has numerous critical properties, which are related to other research regions, such as the brain system. Although the critical phenomena influencing collective behavior have been extensively studied, two important aspects require clarification. First, these critical phenomena never occur on a single scale but are instead nested from the micro- to macro-levels (e.g., from a Lévy walk to scale-free correlation). Second, the functional role of group criticality is unclear. To elucidate these aspects, the ambiguous interaction model is constructed in this study; this model has a common framework and is a natural extension of previous representative models (such as the Boids and Vicsek models). We demonstrate that our model can explain the nested criticality of collective behavior across several scales (considering scale-free correlation, super diffusion, Lévy walks, and 1/f fluctuation for relative velocities). Our model can also explain the relationship between scale-free correlation and group turns. To examine this relation, we propose a new method, applying partial information decomposition (PID) to two scale-free induced subgroups. Using PID, we construct information flows between two scale-free induced subgroups and find that coupling of the group morphology (i.e., the velocity distributions) and its fluctuation power (i.e., the fluctuation distributions) likely enable rapid group turning. Thus, the flock morphology may help its internal fluctuation convert to dynamic behavior. Our result sheds new light on the role of group morphology, which is relatively unheeded, retaining the importance of fluctuation dynamics in group criticality.

Information structure of heterogeneous criticality in a fish school

“…Certain theoretical models support this consideration (e.g. the mutual anticipation of different timescales can enhance group dynamics [57, 58, 59]). The coexistence of several degrees of criticality may provide a key to understanding multi-timescale interactions.…”

The effect of group size and task involvement on temporal binding window in clap perception

“…Interestingly, studies suggest that these ambiguous cause–effect relationships can enhance coherent collective behaviour, such as mutual anticipation among pedestrians contributing to highly organised group behaviour (Gunji et al, 2012 ; Murakami et al, 2021 ; Niizato et al, 2023 ). However, although some models suggest that cause–effect ambiguity enhances the coherent collective dynamics (Gunji et al, 2012 ; Murakami et al, 2021 ; Niizato et al, 2023 ), empirical collective behaviours are exposed to environmental factors such as group penalties and social rewards (Parrish and Edelstein-Keshet, 1999 ). Therefore, we must carefully omit these environmental factors to examine the ambiguity of the cause–effect relationship.…”

Weber-Fechner law underlying perception of synchronized group clapping

“…Two issues are considered in these studies. First, the cause-effect relationship in an actual collective situation is intertwined [27][28][29][30] , and the agent cannot explicitly distinguish between the leader and the follower 31,32 . This uncertainty can affect TB in collective behaviour.…”