Virtual reality for freely moving animals

One contribution of 11 to a theme issue 'Interdisciplinary approaches for uncovering the impacts of architecture on collective behaviour'. Built structures, such as animal nests or buildings that humans occupy, serve two overarching purposes: shelter and a space where individuals interact. The former has dominated much of the discussion in the literature. But, as the study of collective behaviour expands, it is time to elucidate the role of the built environment in shaping collective outcomes. Collective behaviour in social animals emerges from interactions, and collective cognition in humans emerges from communication and coordination. These collective actions have vast economic implications in human societies and critical fitness consequences in animal systems. Despite the obvious influence of space on interactions, because spatial proximity is necessary for an interaction to occur, spatial constraints are rarely considered in studies of collective behaviour or collective cognition. An interdisciplinary exchange between behavioural ecologists, evolutionary biologists, cognitive scientists, social scientists, architects and engineers can facilitate a productive exchange of ideas, methods and theory that could lead us to uncover unifying principles and novel research approaches and questions in studies of animal and human collective behaviour. This article, along with those in this theme issue aims to formalize and catalyse this interdisciplinary exchange.This article is part of the theme issue 'Interdisciplinary approaches for uncovering the impacts of architecture on collective behaviour'.

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“…and comparing those to situations of movement in the real world in structures that are identical to the simulated one [50,51].…”

Section: (C) Linking the Quantification Of Structures And Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interdisciplinary approaches for uncovering the impacts of architecture on collective behaviour

Pinter‐Wollman

Penn

Théraulaz

et al. 2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…Nevertheless, the found PS values could be tested in experiments using virtual reality (Stowers et al. ) by stimulating the waving behavior of an individual with a cluster of virtual males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology and signal structure drive the evolution of synchronous displays*

et al. 2019

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Animal synchrony is found in phylogenetically distant animal groups, indicating behavioral adaptations to different selective pressures and in different signaling modalities. A notable example of synchronous display is found in fiddler crabs in that males wave their single enlarged claw during courtship. They present species‐specific signals, which are composed of distinctive movement signatures. Given that synchronous waving has been reported for several fiddler crab species, the display pattern could influence the ability of a given species to sufficiently adjust wave timing to allow for synchrony. In this study, we quantified the wave displays of fiddler crabs to predict their synchronous behavior. We combined this information with the group's phylogenetic relationships to trace the evolution of display synchrony in an animal taxon. We found no phylogenetic signal in interspecific variation in predicted wave synchrony, which mirrors the general nonphylogenetic pattern of synchrony across animal taxa. Interestingly, our analyses show that the phenomenon of synchronization stems from the peculiarities of display pattern, mating systems, and the complexity of microhabitats. This is the first study to combine mathematical simulations and phylogenetic comparative methods to reveal how ecological factors and the mechanics of animal signals affect the evolution of the synchronous phenomena.

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“…A team of researchers from institutes across Germany and Austria, including the University of Vienna (Austria), has developed technology that can place certain animals in VR systems, without being tethered down, in order to study their social interactions and behaviors [3]. …”

Section: Freedommentioning

confidence: 99%