Modeling collective behaviors from optic flow and retinal cues

Animal collective behavior is often modeled with self-propelled particles, assuming each individual has ``omniscient’’ knowledge of its neighbors. Yet, neighbors may be hidden from view and we do not know the effect of this information loss. To address this question, we propose a visual model of collective behavior where each particle moves according to bio-plausible visual cues, in particular the optic flow. This visual model successfully reproduces three classical collective behaviors: swarming, schooling, and milling. This model offers a potential solution for controlling artificial swarms visually.