Entities › Collective systems

Starling flocks

Each bird tracks a fixed number of neighbours (about 6-7), not every bird within a fixed distance. This is called topological, not metric, interaction.

What’s measured

3D positions of individual birds in flocks of up to about 2,600, reconstructed by stereo photography.

Evidence

• Each bird tracks a fixed number of neighbours (about 6-7), not every bird within a fixed distance. This is called topological, not metric, interaction.
  Ballerini M, Cabibbo N, Candelier R, Cavagna A, et al. (2008) Interaction ruling animal collective behavior depends on topological rather than metric distance: Evidence from a field study. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105(4):1232-1237. doi:10.1073/pnas.0711437105.

Research on collective intelligence studies how groups decide. It doesn't claim that the group itself has experiences.