Dewar, Alexander D M, Philippides, Andrew and Graham, Paul (2014) What is the relationship between visual environment and the form of ant learning-walks? An in silico investigation of insect navigation. Adaptive Behavior, 22 (3). pp. 163-179. ISSN 1059-7123

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Abstract

The learning walks of ants are an excellent opportunity to study the interaction between brain, body and environment from which adaptive behaviour emerges. Learning walks are a behaviour with the specific function of storing visual information around a goal in order to simplify the computational problem of visual homing, that is, navigation back to a goal. However, it is not known at present why learning walks take the stereotypical shapes they do. Here we investigate how learning-walk form, visual surroundings and the interaction between the two affect homing performance in a range of virtual worlds when using a simple view-based homing algorithm. We show that the ideal form for a learning walk is environment-specific. We also demonstrate that the distant panorama and small objects at an intermediate distance, particularly when the panorama is obscured, are important aspects of the visual environment both when determining the ideal learning walk and when using stored views to navigate. Implications are discussed in the context of behavioural research into the learning walks of ants.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Insect navigation, learning walks, view-based homing, visual navigation in ants
Schools and Departments:	School of Engineering and Informatics > Informatics School of Life Sciences > Evolution, Behaviour and Environment
Depositing User:	Alexander David McDonald Dewar
Date Deposited:	24 Jul 2017 14:27
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 19:04
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/69425

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