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The Use of Ideas and Methods of Information Theory to Study Communication and Numerical Competence in Ants
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Ryabko, Boris Reznikova, Zhanna |
| Copyright Year | 2008 |
| Abstract | Here new possibilities are demonstrated that Information Theory offers to cognitive ethologists who study intelligence and language behaviour in animals. This is the first evidence of experimental studying of numerical competence in social animals using their own communicative means. Red wood ants (Formica polyctena) were shown to be able to grasp regularities, to use them for coding and ”compression” of information, and to add and subtract small numbers to optimise their messages. Ethological aspects of these results have been described in the book ”Animal Intelligence: From Individual to social cognition” by Reznikova [8]. In this paper the main ideas of Information Theory are presented that play a key role in the experimental paradigm. The first idea is that in an efficient communication system the more frequent the use of a message, the shorter its length. The second idea is that when using a complicated numerical system, one has to add and subtract small numbers: for example, when using Roman numerals, VII = V + II, etc. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://boris.ryabko.net/invited_Ryabko.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://sp.cs.tut.fi/WITMSE08/Proceedings/InvitedPapers/invited_Ryabko.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
