TY - JOUR
T1 - Rational time investment during collective decision making in Temnothorax ants
AU - Sasaki, Takao
AU - Stott, Benjamin
AU - Pratt, Stephen C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - The study of rational choice in humans and other animals typically focuses on decision outcomes, but rationality also applies to decision latencies, especially when time is scarce and valuable. For example, the smaller the difference in quality between two options, the faster a rational actor should decide between them. This is because the consequences of choosing the inferior option are less severe if the options are similar. Experiments have shown, however, that humans irrationally spend more time choosing between similar options. In this study, we assessed the rationality of time investment during nest-site choice by the rock ant, Temnothorax albipennis. Previous studies have shown that collective decision-making allows ant colonies to avoid certain irrational errors. Here we show that the same is true for time investment. Individual ants, like humans, irrationally took more time to complete an emigration when choosing between two similar nests than when choosing between two less similar nests. Whole colonies, by contrast, rationally made faster decisions when the options were more similar. We discuss the underlying mechanisms of decision-making in individuals and colonies and how they lead to irrational and rational time investment, respectively.
AB - The study of rational choice in humans and other animals typically focuses on decision outcomes, but rationality also applies to decision latencies, especially when time is scarce and valuable. For example, the smaller the difference in quality between two options, the faster a rational actor should decide between them. This is because the consequences of choosing the inferior option are less severe if the options are similar. Experiments have shown, however, that humans irrationally spend more time choosing between similar options. In this study, we assessed the rationality of time investment during nest-site choice by the rock ant, Temnothorax albipennis. Previous studies have shown that collective decision-making allows ant colonies to avoid certain irrational errors. Here we show that the same is true for time investment. Individual ants, like humans, irrationally took more time to complete an emigration when choosing between two similar nests than when choosing between two less similar nests. Whole colonies, by contrast, rationally made faster decisions when the options were more similar. We discuss the underlying mechanisms of decision-making in individuals and colonies and how they lead to irrational and rational time investment, respectively.
KW - Collective decision-making
KW - Rational decision-making
KW - Temnothorax
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U2 - 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0542
DO - 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0542
M3 - Article
C2 - 31615372
AN - SCOPUS:85073415989
VL - 15
JO - Biology Letters
JF - Biology Letters
SN - 1744-9561
IS - 10
M1 - 20190542
ER -