DI Summit 2025
Save the date – 18-20 July! Join us for the Diverse Intelligences Summit 2025 at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK. More information.
Seminar Series: Collective behaviour and intelligence
The goal of the Collective Behaviour and Intelligence (CBI) seminar series is to explore the phenomena of collective behaviour and intelligence, the mechanisms underlying them and their consequences, through reading and discussion of classic and current literature. These phenomena are of interest to a wide variety of disciplines and include many different systems at various scales of organisation. To cast a wide net and engage participants from different disciplines, we will review theoretical, modelling and empirical studies on various systems, using animal collective behaviour as a point of departure but also exploring human societies and their collective dynamics, as well as other systems where collective behaviour can be found.
Sessions could include a combination of lectures and discussions of pre-selected readings, coordinated by the various participants. The seminars are free of charge and all are welcome.
7 May 2025
Speaker: Kenneth Mavor (School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews)
14:00 – 15:30, Psychology Seminar Room 1
21 May 2025
Collective intelligence, collective knowledge, and culture
Speaker: Andrew Whiten (School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews)
14:00 – 15:30, Psychology Seminar Room 1
Diverse pathways to satisfying informative intentions
Global Research Centre for Diverse Intelligences Seminar Series.
6 May 2025, 12:00 – 13:00
Speaker: Dr Christophe Heintz (Central European University, Vienna, Austria and Visiting Scholar at the GRCDI, University of St Andrews)
This presentation examines the diverse strategies for satisfying informative intentions, arguing that ostensive communication represents just one approach within a broader spectrum of intentional behaviours. Evidence suggests that both humans and non-human great apes routinely satisfy informative intentions without ostension, that is, without providing evidence of their communicative intention. Humans frequently provide non-ostensive evidence about environmental states, as when shopkeepers position products within visual fields, or about their own intentions, as when moving on one side of the pavement when crossing someone. Similarly, non-human great apes display behaviours indicating intentions, such as specific gestures to solicit grooming, without displaying evidence of their communicative intent.
I present findings supporting the hypothesis that great apes possess genuine informative intentions, including intentions to let others know their desires. However, the systematic display of evidence about communicative intentions appears uniquely human. The presentation includes an analysis of the adaptive value of ostensive behaviour and proposes an account for its evolutionary emergence.
Speaker bio
Christophe Heintz is working on the role of adaptive cognition in shaping cultural evolution and cooperation. He is a cognitive psychologist at Central European University (CEU), Vienna.
Location: Hebdomadars Room
CBI Seminar: Collective Representation in Economics: Concept and Examples
23 April 2025, 14:00 – 15:30
Speaker: Tugce Cuhadaroglu (St Andrews Business School, Department of Economics)
Abstract:
What does the notion of collective representation mean to an economist? In this talk, I’ll explore how economists from different fields think about this concept—where their views overlap, and where they diverge. I’ll also draw some lines between collective representation and related ideas like collective behavior and collective intelligence, using examples to make those differences clear. Along the way, I’ll take a closer look at some key examples we’ve discussed, like social norms and social welfare functions, to show how collective representations shape economic thinking and decision-making.
Location: Psychology Old Library
CBI Seminar: On collective representations
12 March 2025, 14:00-15:30, Psychology Old Library
12 February 2025, 14:00-15:30, St Mary’s Lecture room 1
29 January 2025, 14:00-15:30, Psychology Old Library
Speakers: discussion led by Amanda Seed (School of Psychology and Neuroscience), Derek Ball (Department of Philosophy), Josep Call (School of Psychology and Neuroscience) and Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez (National Autonomous University of Mexico)
These sessions were prompted by the idea, discussed during previous seminar sessions, that a group might use a collective representation to interact with the environment. For example, in a colony of ants, the pheromone trail itself, as a dynamic pattern that grows and shrinks according to the interaction of the colony with the environment, might be considered as a representation of the foraging environment. No single ant may have this representation (or any part of it) in its mind, but for the group as a whole it functions as a representation of where food is in the environment at any given moment. In these sessions we will explore the possible existence of collective representations in various systems, as viewed from different disciplines, including philosophy, psychology and biology. Following a short presentation of these views, we will discuss examples of collective behaviour which might or might not be based on such collective representations, as well as their essential features.
Readings:
Millikan, R. G. 2000. Naturalizing intentionality. In: Proceedings of the 20th World Congress of Philosophy 9:83-90.
Gordon, D. M. 2023. Collective behavior in relation with changing environments: Dynamics, modularity, and agency. Evolution & Development, 25(6), 430-438.
DeepSeek Roundtable Discussion
28 February 2025, 10:00-11:00
The Global Research Centre for Diverse Intelligences hosted a ‘DeepSeek Roundtable Discussion’ on Friday 28 February 2025, 10:00-11:00am. This informal discussion included participants from the School of Computer Science and the School of Psychology and Neuroscience; the discussion was open to all staff and students at the University of St Andrews.
Location: Arts Building, Seminar Room 8 (ARB: 319)
CBI Seminar: A discussion about key distinctions to make when speaking about collective behaviour/intelligence/representations
26 February 2025, 14:00-15:30
Speaker: Malinda Carpenter (School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews)
It seems to me that many very different concepts have been conflated under the same term ‘collective behaviour’ (or ‘collective intelligence’ or ‘collective representations’). In this session, I would like to start a discussion in which we take a step back and consider, in a more theoretical, systematic, top-down way, some key distinctions that could be helpful to make – perhaps coming up with some new terms in the process.
The suggested reading, Siposova and Carpenter (2019), is a paper that resulted from similar discussions about the related topics of joint attention, common knowledge, and joint action. Different scholars within the same fields, and across different fields (e.g. psychology, philosophy, computer science) often use those terms differently, and that creates confusion and arguably hinders further progress. No need to have read the whole thing (or to read it at all) to participate in the discussion. The most relevant parts are sections 1, 2 (including 2.1-2.5), and 6.2. If it ends up being helpful, we can also talk about the early development of these and related skills in human infants.
Location: Psychology Old Library
Directions: Located in St Mary’s Quad, South Street. Access is via the main entrance to the School of Psychology & Neuroscience. Cross the foyer and go up the staircase facing you, then turn right on the top floor.
Discussion Hour: Capturing and modelling children and adults’ active experimentation in physical micro-environments
9 January 2025, 10:00 to 12:00
Speaker: Dr Neil Bramley (University of Edinburgh)
Many aspects of our physical world are hidden. For example, it is hard to estimate how heavy an object is from visual observation alone. This project uses physics simulated environments to examine how children and adults actively “experiment” within the physical world to discover latent properties. To do this, I develop a novel modelling framework for quantitative analysis of the information produced by continuous physical interactions. I will describe three experiments that present participants with moving objects in “microworlds” that operate according to continuous spatiotemporal dynamics mimicking everyday physics (i.e., forces of gravity, friction, etc.). Participants are asked to interact with objects in the microworlds, using a mouse or touch screen to identify their masses, or the forces of attraction/ repulsion that governed their movement. Using my modelling framework, I show that learners who freely interacted with the physical environment were able to produce evidence that selectively revealed the physical property consistent with their inquiry goal. As a result, their inferences are more accurate than for passive observers and yoked participants who watch video replays of an active learner’s interactions. I demonstrate that 4-10 year-olds are as goal-sensitive and information-efficient as adults when they interact with these environments (in contrast with their poor performance in more formal information search tasks). Finally, I characterize participants’ actions into a range of micro-experiment strategies and speculate about how these might be learned or generalized from past experience. Try a demo: https://eco.ppls.ed.ac.uk/~nbramley/physics-world/task.html
Relevant papers:
– Bramley, N. R., Gerstenberg, T., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Gureckis, T. M. (2018). Intuitive experimentation in the physical world. Cognitive psychology, 105, 9-38. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001002851730347X
– Bramley, N. R., & Ruggeri, A. (2022). Children’s active physical learning is as effective and goal-targeted as adults’. Developmental Psychology, 58(12), 2310. https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2023-00704-001.pdf
Speaker bio:
Neil Bramley is a Reader in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. His lab studies how people represent the actual world and think about its alternatives, plus how they use these abilities to plan, imagine, explain, blame and solve problems. He generally uses interactive experiments and games combined with computational modelling to investigate these issues.
Location: Hebdomadars Room
Beyond WEIRD dogs – cultural differences in dog-human interactions
Co-sponsored by School of Psychology and Neuroscience seminars series and Global Research Centre for Diverse Intelligences
29 November 2024
Speaker: Dr Juliane Bräuer (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology)
Dogs show an extraordinaire capacity to understand, communicate, and cooperate with us. However, what we know about the social-cognitive skills of dogs comes from observations and experiments performed in WEIRD societies. Around the world though, dogs are kept for various functions, they are perceived and treated differently, suggesting cross-cultural diversity in the strength of dog-human relationships. In our project about Cultural Differences in Dog Human Interactions we take to distinctive approaches to address this issue, hypothesizing that dog-human relationships will be closer in societies where dog functions require intense cooperation between dogs and humans.
In the first study, we collected data on the function and perception of dogs in 124 globally distributed societies using the eHRAF cross-cultural database and investigated how function and relationship are related. In the second study, we investigated how dogs’ cognitive skills and dog-human interactions vary cross-culturally comparing dog-owner interactions in Germany and in four non-western cultures. We developed a test battery with short tests on the following aspects of dog-owner interaction: education, communication, visual perspective-taking, social referencing and physical cognition. I will present data from this ongoing study.
The results of this project do not only contribute to a better understanding of the dog-human relationship, but also of the relationship between cultural evolution and domestication, i.e. how cultural and evolutionary processes influence each other.
Venue: Psychology Seminar Room 1
Seminar Series: Collective behaviour and intelligence
The goal of the Collective Behaviour and Intelligence seminar series is to explore the phenomena of collective behaviour and intelligence, the mechanisms underlying them and their consequences, through reading and discussion of classic and current literature. These phenomena are of interest to a wide variety of disciplines and include many different systems at various scales of organisation. To cast a wide net and engage participants from different disciplines, we will review theoretical, modelling and empirical studies on various systems, using animal collective behaviour as a point of departure but also exploring human societies and their collective dynamics, as well as other systems where collective behaviour can be found.
Sessions could include a combination of lectures and discussions of pre-selected readings, coordinated by the various participants. The seminars are free of charge and all are welcome.
25 September 2024
Introduction
Moussaid, M., Garnier, S., Theraulaz, G., & Helbing, D. (2009)
Collective Information Processing and Pattern Formation in Swarms, Flocks, and Crowds
Topics in Cognitive Science, 1(3), 469–497
14:00 – 15:30, Butts Wynd Building Room 8
9 October 2024
What groups do, from different disciplines’ perspectives
Steiner, I. D. (1966)
Models for Inferring Relationships Between Group Size and Potential Group Productivity
Behavioural Science, 11(4)
14:00 – 15:30, Butts Wynd Building Room 8
30 October 2024
Mechanisms at the individual and interaction levels
Goldstone, R. L., & Gureckis, T. M. (2009)
Collective Behaviour
Topics in Cognitive Science, 1(3), 412–438
14:00 – 15:30, Butts Wynd Building Room 8
6 November 2024
Mechanisms at the network and environment levels
Lazer, D., & Friedman, A. (2007)
The Network Structure of Exploration and Exploitation
Administrative Science Quarterly 52(4):667-694
14:00 – 15:30, Butts Wynd Building Room 8
20 November 2024
Emergence of group cognition
Group discussion of:
– Theiner, G., Allen, C., and Goldstone, R. L. (2010). Recognizing group cognition. Cognitive Systems Research, 11(4), 378-395
And reaction papers:
– Ludwig, K. (2015). Is distributed cognition group level cognition?. Journal of Social Ontology, 1(2), 189-224
– Palermos, S. O. (2016). The dynamics of group cognition. Minds and Machines, 26(4), 409-440
14:00 – 15:30, Butts Wynd Building Room 9
4 December 2024
Collective information processing
Special session with co-authors of draft paper:
– Zara Anwarzai (Department of Philosophy and Cognitive Science Program at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
– Cody Moser (Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA, USA and School of Collective Intelligence, Mohammed VI Polytechnic Institute, Rabat, Morocco)
– Hannah Dromiack (Department of Physics and BEYOND Center for Fundamental Questions in Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA)
– Ketika Garg (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, CA, USA)
– Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez (Research Institute on Applied Mathematics and Systems, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico and Global Research Centre on Diverse Intelligences, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK)
15:30-17:00, Kennedy 003, Garden Seminar Room
Contact the organiser: Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez or Josep Call for more information.
Discussion Hour: Inferential reasoning in philosophy and comparative psychology
7 November 2024, 10:30-12:00
Speaker: Dr Giacomo Melis (University of Stirling)
I discuss the relation between some characterisations of inferential reasoning in philosophy and comparative psychology. I point out some analogies and differences, I suggest that each camp may have something to learn by engaging with the other, and I outline two broad ways in which this may happen. On the one hand, the empirical study of reasoning may offer philosophers evidence relevant to investigate the nature of rationality and the varieties of its manifestations. On the other hand, the philosophical distinction between logic and reasoning may help comparative psychologists to fine-tune the empirical criteria for deductive reasoning in non-verbal and preverbal subjects.
Location: Old Burgh School, Abbey Walk, Room 108, Lumsden, Seminar Room 1
Workshop: Adaptive behaviour in human infants, animals and robots
20-22 October 2024, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
The workshop was co-organised by the Global Research Centre for Diverse Intelligences (GRCDI) and Ritsumeikan University; it included presentations, lab visits and open discussions.
Participants:
- Minoru Asada (Osaka University)
Scientific and Technological Challenges in RoboCup - Andrew Barron (Macquarie University)
Honey bee cognition - Josep Call (University of St Andrews) (Organiser)
The descent of ape (into robot) - Erica Cartmill (Indiana University)
Play and projection: social and physical problem solving in great apes - Satoshi Hirata (Kyoto University)
Chimpanzee cognition and reinforcement learning models - Mitsuhiko Ishikawa (Hitotsubashi University)
Mechanisms of infants’ gaze-following behaviour adapted to social contexts - Shoji Itakura (Ritsumeikan University) (Organiser)
Infants’ reactions to robot during the still face procedure - Yasuhiro Kanakogi (Osaka University)
A sense of justice in preverbal infants - Takayuki Kanda (Kyoto University)
Moral Interaction with Social robots - Yusuke Moriguchi (Kyoto University)
Development of consciousness during childhood - Amanda Seed (University of St Andrews)
Diverse Mental Models or Diverse Control? - Kasim Terzig (University of St Andrews)
A tale of three robots: Reinforcement learning and long-horizon high-dimensional problems - Juan Ye (University of St Andrews)
Continual learning in sensor-based human activity recognition - Maarten Zwart (University of St Andrews)
A sense of place: neural mechanisms of spatial awareness in larval zebrafish
Adaptive Behaviour Workshop – Abstracts
(back row ) Minoru Asada, Juan Ye, Maarten Zwart, Kasim Terzic, Andrew Barron, Erica Cartmill, Yasuhiro Kanakogi and Mitsuhiko Ishikawa. Not pictured: Satoshi Hirata and Yusuke Moriguchi.