Ant colonies behave like neural networks in the brain when making decisions

Daniel Kronauer and Asaf Gal developed a new experimental setup for thorough analysis

decision-making process in ant colonies. New research suggests that ants as a group behave like networks of neurons in the brain. Discuss

As reported in Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences, they found that when a colony evacuates due to a rise in temperature, its decision depends on both the magnitude of the temperature rise and the size of the ant group.

The data obtained indicate thatмуравьи комбинируют сенсорную информацию с параметрами своей группы, чтобы прийти к групповому ответу – процесс, аналогичный нейронным вычислениям, приводящим к принятию решений.

"Мы впервые применили подход к пониманию ant colony as a cognitive-like system that perceives input data and then transforms it into behavioral outputs,” – says Kronauer, director of the Social Evolution and Behavior Laboratory. "This is one of the first steps toward understanding how insect communities participate in collective decisions."