Insects showcase teamwork that humans struggle to replicate without communication.

Collaboration and teamwork are what make humans capable of incredible achievements and allowed them to dominate the planet, but a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that when verbal communication is removed, humans might not outperform ants in collaborative challenges.

Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, tested the collective problem-solving abilities of both humans and longhorn crazy ants (Paratrechina longicornis). The experiment as seen in the video involved maneuvering a T-shaped object through a series of wall openings scaled to the participants' body sizes.

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Ants rely on pheromone-based communication, which doesn’t inherently account for the spatial reasoning required to navigate the puzzle.

To level the playing field, scientists restricted human communication in some trials by using sunglasses, masks, and a ban on speaking or gesturing. Like the ants, humans had to rely solely on their physical interactions to solve the task.

The results were striking. Groups of ants consistently outperformed individual ants, displaying what researchers termed "emergent collective memory" - a form of intelligence arising from collaboration.

Humans, on the other hand, struggled to achieve similar synergy. Without the ability to communicate, groups of people often performed worse than individuals and, surprisingly, worse than the ants.

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The researchers suggest this disparity stems from humans’ tendency toward "groupthink" in the absence of discussion. Without the ability to deliberate and analyze the problem, people often gravitate toward consensus, even if it leads to inefficient or incorrect strategies.

In this case, humans frequently attempted to move the T directly through the gaps, overlooking the more effective solution of first maneuvering it into the intermediate space.

By contrast, ants excelled in cooperation, effectively pooling their efforts to achieve the goal without the need for discussion or debate.

The study highlights how human problem-solving relies heavily on communication, whereas ants demonstrate a remarkable ability to act collectively through instinctive, coordinated behavior.

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