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An application of microphysical concepts to the sensory response: Cooperative effects
Author(s) -
DuclaSoares Eduardo,
Godinho Maria Margarida
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.560180736
Subject(s) - stimulus (psychology) , sensory system , stimulus–response model , physics , homing (biology) , statistical physics , communication , computer science , psychology , perception , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , geophysics
The basic concepts in cooperative phenomena arc very general and independent of the nature of the systems involved. The effect of the interactions at the social level, on the response of a group of animals to an external physical stimulus, are analyzed using methods strongly inspired by the theory of magnetism. This discussion is closely related to the migratory and homing processes in animals. The case where the response is a (weak) preferential displacement in the direction of the (vectorial) stimulus is used to develop a mathematical model allowing for different degrees of “correlation” between the animals' velocities and to study the influence of this last parameter on the accuracy of the response. This model is suitable to fit experimental data, and it confirms the suggestion that a group response to a physical stimulus is possible even when its effect on isolated members of the group is too small to be detected experimentally (cooperative sensory response).