Here, we challenge people and ants with the same “piano-movers” load maneuvering puzzle and show that while ants perform more efficiently in larger groups, the opposite is true for humans.

Here, we challenge people and ants with the same “piano-movers” load maneuvering puzzle and show that while ants perform more efficiently in larger groups, the opposite is true for humans.

Here, we challenge people and ants with the same “piano-movers” load maneuvering puzzle and show that while ants perform more efficiently in larger groups, the opposite is true for humans.

To answer this, we compared how individuals and groups of either ants or people tackle an identical geometrical puzzle. We find that when ants work in groups, their performances rise significantly.

We prepared an even larger version of the puzzle so that 26 people could tackle it together. We used two experimental conditions: Restricted communication, similar to what the ants use, and free communication.

However, human solvers find the physical puzzle to be tractable, whereas the corresponding SAT puzzle with more than 105 clauses is intractable for humans to solve through direct reasoning. This stark contrast in solvability underscores a broader principle: sensi-tivity to problem representation.

Content Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 1, January 2025. SignificanceCollective cognition is often mentioned as one of the advantages of group living. But which factors actually facilitate group smarts? To answer this, we compared how individuals and groups of either ants or people tackle an identical ...

Contribute to math-papers/2024 development by creating an account on GitHub.

Scientists compare how ants and humans solve complex spatial challenges. Uncover the unexpected results of a fascinating study on collective intelligence.

Starting from this principle, a group of researchers created a concrete version of the puzzle, comparing the performance of a group of ants with those of a group of human beings.