Scientists use computer 'agents' to explain primate behaviour

The complex behaviour of primates can be understood using artificially-intelligent computer 'agents' that mimic their actions, a new study by a British primatologist from the University of Bath, has revealed.

As part of the study, Dr Joanna Bryson and her team tested two agents programmed with two rules, staying in a group for safety, and pestering subordinates until they moved away.

Findings revealed that that the more dominant agents made their way to the centre of the group.

According to Dr Bryson, this desire to stay in a group and pick on subordinates could be an evolutionary mechanism that helps protect the more dominant and successful individuals in a group.

"This kind of agent-based modelling is really a new way of doing science. Previously scientists have been limited to trying to understand animal behaviour by making observations and then developing theories that fit. Now we can test these theories using agents to give us a better understanding of complex behaviours," said Dr Bryson.

"This work shows that agent models are an ordinary part of scientific theory building. We confirmed and extended previous work on spatial location of dominant animals, while showing where some theories got it wrong - in this case a theory put forward for why macaques form either despotic or egalitarian troops," she said.

Dr Bryson said whilst there is no hierarchical structure in egalitarian groups, there is a tendency for fighting, although it is less violent, than in despotic groups.

Dr. Bryson said egalitarian groups tended to spend more time preening and hugging each other after fighting, leading researchers to speculate that two different types of society evolved following the development of some groups' ability to 'reconcile'.

"Agent-based modelling techniques let us invent and remove behaviours to test the explanations of what we see in nature," said Dr Bryson.

"Using modelling you can vary the external environmental factors to see if they have any effect on behaviour. You can do this for many generations in a few hours and see whether new behaviour is adaptive," she said.

The study further revealed that by changing the amount of space between troop members, it was possible to create models of despotic and egalitarian groups of agents.

"Then you can show that the despotic agents do better in the conditions we find despotic macaques in the wild. The same holds for egalitarian macaques. The violence and lack of reconciliation in despotic groups comes down to the fact that they don't like living on top of each other," said Dr Bryson.

"This creates more space for the troop so they can find more food. But by hugging and making up after fights, the egalitarians spend more time close to each other. This makes them safer in environments where there are predators," she said.

"This is a simple explanation for what we see in the wild, and it explains why some groups have a different range of behaviours than another," she added.

The study appears in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B and was presented at the BA Festival of Science in York. (ANI)

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