Group Decision-Making

PI：Seeley提案编号：9630159这个项目的目标是阐明动物群体决策中最令人印象深刻的例子之一背后的机制：蜂群选择新的筑巢地点。蜜蜂的选择方法使蜂群中的数百只侦察蜂能够以快速和准确的速度就未来的栖息地达成共识。理解蜜蜂群体的成员如何形成一个有效的决策单位可能会有很好的实际应用，因为我们人类也经常作为负责做出具有重要后果的决策的小组的成员发挥作用。以前对蜂群选择蜂巢地点的研究主要集中在确定蜜蜂的选择标准(它们做出决定的基础)。这项研究将集中在蜜蜂的选择方法(它们是如何形成决定的)。特别是，将分析蜜蜂建立共识的过程。在其他方面，这将涉及跟踪被标记为个体识别的童子军蜜蜂的行为，并注意每一只童子军蜜蜂如何根据她所发现的巢址的质量来调整自己的行为。无论如何，那些找到了不是最好的地点的蜜蜂必须意识到这一点，然后将它们的“忠诚”转移到最好的地点。这项调查可能会揭示，没有一只童子军蜜蜂对决策过程中正在考虑的各种替代方案具有概括性的知识。相反，似乎最有可能的是，每个蜜蜂只是作为一个小组级别单位的一小部分发挥作用，在这个单位中，产生、评估和选择备选方案的任务是集体完成的。因此，这项研究将为社会生物学中的一个重要思想提供一个强有力的例子：通过合作，一个群体的成员可以形成一个群体水平

PI: Seeley Proposal Number: 9630159 The goal of this project is to elucidate the mechanisms underlying one of the most impressive examples of group decision making in animals: the selection of a new nest site by swarms of honey bees. The bees' methods of choice enable the several hundred scout bees in a swarm to reach a consensus about a future dwelling place with both speed and accuracy. Understanding how the members of a honey bee colony form an effective decision-making unit may well have practical applications, for we humans also often function as members of a group responsible for making decisions with important consequences. Prior studies of nest-site selection by honey bee swarms have concentrated on determining the bees' criteria of choice (what they base their decision on). This study will focus on the bees' methods of choice (how they form their decision). In particular, the bees' process of consensus building will be analyzed. Among other things, this will involve following the actions of scout bees labeled for individual identification and noting how each scout bee adjusts her behavior as a function of the quality of the nest site that she has found. Somehow, the bees that have located sites that are less than the best must become aware of this and then switch their "allegiance" to the best site. This investigation is likely to reveal that none of the scout bees possesses a synoptic knowledge of the various alternatives under consideration in the decision-making process. Instead, what seems most likely is that each bee functions merely as one small part of a group-level unit in which the tasks of generating, evaluating, and choosing among alternatives are accomplished collectively. Thus this study will provide a strong example of an important idea in sociobiology: that the members of a group, by working together cooperatively, can form a group-level