Exploring the consequences of social responsiveness on leadership using an interactive biomimetic robotic fish

每个人对其社会伴侣的行为的反应方式可能会一直不同。这些差异很可能会影响群体中个人之间的互动，例如领导力。领导力包括两个主要的功能方面，这两个方面都可能受到社会反应的个体差异的影响：(I)追随者可以根据领导者S的行为来决定跟随哪个领导者，(Ii)领导者S的领导能力可能取决于他对追随者(S)行为的反应。然而，在领导力背景下，关于个体社会反应差异的经验数据很少。很难通过实验来衡量和操纵一个人的社会响应性。此外，系统地操纵整个动物群体往往是不可行的。克服这些困难的一种方法是控制个人在群体中的行为。出于这个原因，我将使用一种新推出的交互式仿生机器鱼系统(RoboFish)。机器鱼被孔雀鱼接受为同种鱼(网纹孔雀鱼)，能够将自己融入活的孔雀鱼群中。这是通过实时跟踪活的动物和机器鱼来实现的，然后机器鱼能够根据活的孔雀鱼的行动来调整它的行为。使用这个新工具，我试图回答以下基本问题。首先，我要问的是，孔雀鱼的社会反应能力是否一直不同。为了回答这个问题，我将分析活的孔雀鱼对一只机器鱼的反应，它在水族馆的预定路径上游泳。其次，我问一个人的S的社会响应性是否会影响他在不同领导人中进行选择的能力。我预测，一个人对社会的响应度越高，他就越应该在不同的领导人之间做出适应性选择。为了验证这一预测，孔雀可以在两个同时出现的机器鱼领袖中进行选择。这两个机器鱼领导人中的一个会事先被认为是导致食物来源的，而另一个则不是。个体孔雀鱼反应越灵敏，它就越应该跟随之前与食物有关的领头羊。第三，我问领导者的社会响应性如何影响他们有效领导团队的能力。强势的领导者通常会表达自己的喜好，因此，他们自己对社会的响应度较低。理论模型预测，与那些软弱但更具社会响应性的领导者相比，那些强大的领导者更有能力领导更大的团队。然而，当领导者的响应性低于一定的阈值时，分裂事件应该增加。为了验证这一预测，我将操纵互动的机器鱼领导者的社会响应性，并量化不同规模的活孔雀鱼群体的以下行为。我的方法是新的，拟议的实验可以提供经验数据来评估最近几个关于动物群体集体运动和领导力的理论模型。

Individuals can differ consistently in how they respond to the behavior of their social partners. These differences may well affect interactions of individuals in a group, for example leadership. Leadership comprises two main functional aspects that both could be influenced by individual differences in social responsiveness: (i) a follower may base its decision on which leader to follow on the leaders´s behavior while (ii) a leader´s ability to lead may depend on its responsiveness to the behavior of the follower(s). However, empirical data on individual differences in social responsiveness in a leadership context is rare. It is difficult to measure and manipulate an individual's social responsiveness experimentally. In addition, a systematic manipulation of entire animal groups is often not feasible. One approach to overcome these difficulties is to gain control over individuals´ behavior within a group. For that reason, I will use a newly available interactive biomimetic robotic fish system (Robofish). Robofish is accepted as a conspecific by guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and is able to integrate itself into shoals of live guppies. This is achieved through real-time tracking of both live animals and the Robofish that is then able to adjust its behavior to the live guppies´ actions. With this new tool, I try to answer the following fundamental questions. First, I ask whether guppies differ consistently in their social responsiveness. To answer this question, I will analyze the response of live guppies towards a Robofish that swims on a predefined path through an aquarium. Second, I ask whether an individual´s social responsiveness affects its ability to select among different leaders. I predict that the more socially responsive an individual is, the better it should make adaptive choices between different leaders. To test this prediction, guppies can choose between two simultaneously presented Robofish leaders. One of these two Robofish leaders will have been perceived beforehand as leading to a food source while the other one was not. The more responsive the individual guppy, the more it should follow the leader that was associated with food before. Third, I ask how the social responsiveness of leaders influence their ability to lead groups effectively. Strong leaders express most often their own preferences and, thus, are less socially responsive themselves. Theoretical models predict that those strong leaders are better able to lead larger groups compared to weak but more socially responsive ones. However, splitting events should increase when responsiveness of the leader is below certain thresholds. To test this prediction, I will manipulate interactive Robofish leaders´ social responsiveness and quantify the following behavior of live guppy groups of different size. My approach is new and the proposed experiments could provide empirical data to evaluate several recent theoretical models on collective motion and leadership in animal groups.