The impact of individual perceptual and cognitive factors on collective states in a data-driven fish school model

In moving animal groups, social interactions play a key role in the ability of individuals to achieve coordinated motion. However, a large number of environmental and cognitive factors are able to modulate the expression of these interactions and the characteristics of the collective movements that result from these interactions. Here, we use a data-driven fish school model to quantitatively investigate the impact of perceptual and cognitive factors on coordination and collective swimming patterns. The model describes the interactions involved in the coordination of burst-and-coast swimming in groups of Hemigrammus rhodostomus. We perform a comprehensive investigation of the respective impacts of two interactions strategies between fish based on the selection of the most or the two most influential neighbors, of the range and intensity of social interactions, of the intensity of individual random behavioral fluctuations, and of the group size, on the ability of groups of fish to coordinate their movements. We find that fish are able to coordinate their movements when they interact with their most or two most influential neighbors, provided that a minimal level of attraction between fish exist to maintain group cohesion. A minimal level of alignment is also required to allow the formation of schooling and milling. However, increasing the strength of social interactions does not necessarily enhance group cohesion and coordination. When attraction and alignment strengths are too high, or when the heading random fluctuations are too large, schooling and milling can no longer be maintained and the school switches to a swarming phase. Increasing the interaction range between fish has a similar impact on collective dynamics as increasing the strengths of attraction and alignment. Finally, we find that coordination and schooling occurs for a wider range of attraction and alignment strength in small group sizes.