Related papers: Uncovering multiscale structure in the variability…
Naturalistic animal behavior exhibits a strikingly complex organization in the temporal domain, whose variability stems from at least three sources: hierarchical, contextual, and stochastic. What are the neural mechanisms and computational…
The dispersal stages of organisms with sessile adults must be able to select habitats with suitable conditions for establishment and survival, and must also be able to reach those locations. For marine planktonic larvae, movement due to…
Cognitive maps play a crucial role in facilitating flexible behaviour by representing spatial and conceptual relationships within an environment. The ability to learn and infer the underlying structure of the environment is crucial for…
Motions of visually coupled zebrafish pairs are studied to understand the effects of information exchange on their behavior as a function of their minimal separation ($d$). We find that when $d$ is small, the pair can display a…
Moving groups are routinely faced with a choice of different routes as part of their daily lives, such as choosing between exits from a building. Differences in moving speeds and environmental constraints often lead to individuals being…
Coupled dynamical systems in ecology are known to respond to the seasonal forcing of their parameters with multiple dynamical behaviours, ranging from seasonal cycles to chaos. Seasonal forcing is predominantly modelled as a sine wave but…
Living objects are able to consume chemical energy and process information independently from others. However, living objects can coordinate to form ordered groups such as schools of fish. This work considers these complex groups as living…
A pervasive challenge in neuroscience is testing whether neuronal connectivity changes over time due to specific causes, such as stimuli, events, or clinical interventions. Recent hardware innovations and falling data storage costs enable…
Everyday locomotion is a complex sensorimotor process that can unfold over multiple timescales, from long-term path planning to rapid, reactive adjustments. However, we lack an understanding of how factors such as environmental demands, or…
While microscopic organisms can use gradient-based search to locate resources, this strategy can be poorly suited to the sensory signals available to macroscopic organisms. We propose a framework that models search-decision making in cases…
Self-propelling organisms locomote via generation of patterns of self-deformation. Despite the diversity of body plans, internal actuation schemes and environments in limbless vertebrates and invertebrates, such organisms often use similar…
Consciousness spans macroscopic experience and microscopic neuronal activity, yet linking these scales remains challenging. Prevailing theories, such as Integrated Information Theory, focus on a single scale, overlooking how causal power…
An effective evasion strategy allows prey to survive encounters with predators. Prey are generally thought to escape in a direction that is either random or serves to maximize the minimum distance from the predator. Here we introduce a…
A complex interplay between species governs the evolution of spatial patterns in ecology. An open problem in the biological sciences is characterising spatio-temporal data and understanding how changes at the local scale affect global…
1. Spatial memory plays a role in the way animals perceive their environments, resulting in memory-informed movement patterns that are observable to ecologists. Developing mathematical techniques to understand how animals use memory in…
Human travelling behaviours are markedly regular, to a large extent, predictable, and mostly driven by biological necessities (\eg sleeping, eating) and social constructs (\eg school schedules, synchronisation of labour). Not surprisingly,…
Marine invasive species spread through global shipping and generate substantial ecological and economic impacts. Traditional risk assessments require detailed records of ballast water and traffic patterns, which are often incomplete,…
One of the most frequently used models for understanding human navigation on the Web is the Markov chain model, where Web pages are represented as states and hyperlinks as probabilities of navigating from one page to another. Predominantly,…
Markov Random Field models are powerful tools for the study of complex systems. However, little is known about how the interactions between the elements of such systems are encoded, especially from an information-theoretic perspective. In…
Robust evidence suggests that humans explore their environment using a combination of topological landmarks and coarse-grained path integration. This approach relies on identifiable environmental features (topological landmarks) in tandem…