Simulation and analysis of a shared extended mind

Abstract

Some types of animals exploit patterns created in the environment as external mental states, thus obtaining an extension of their mind. In the case of social animals the creation and exploitation of such patterns can be shared, which supports a form of shared extended mind or collective intelligence. This paper explores this shared extended mind principle for social animals in more detail. Its main goal is to analyse and formalise the dynamic properties of the processes involved, both at the local level (the basic mechanisms) and the global level (the emerging properties of the whole), and their relationships. A case study in social ant behaviour in which shared extended mind plays an important role is used as illustration. For this case simulations are described based on specifications of local properties, and global properties are specified and verified.