Some authors have hypothesized that the observed
self-synchronized activity in ant colonies provides some adaptive
advantages, and, in particular, it has been suggested that task
realization may benefit from this ordered temporal pattern of behavior
(Robinson, 1992; Hatcher {em et al.}, 1992). In this paper we use a
model of self-synchronized activity (the Fluid Neural Network) to
suggest that with self-synchronized patterns of activity a task may be
fulfiled more effectively than with non-synchronized activity, at the
same average level of activity per individual.Postprint (published version
