2025/12/31 by Zara Anwarzai, Cody Moser, Hannah Dromiack +3 · 1 voice · 2 citations
Computer Science · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Action Observation and Synchronization #Embodied and Extended Cognition #Psychiatry, Mental Health, Neuroscience
paper · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106433
openalex created_date 2025/12/31 · openalex publication_date 2025/12/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Collective intelligence research spans multiple disciplines and focuses on a broad range of collective behaviors, including group problem-solving, flocking in social animals, and the formation of social knowledge. It is not apparent what these different forms of collective intelligence have in common, apart from being instances of collective behavior. In this paper, we develop a framework that enables us to better classify different forms of collectively intelligent behavior in relation to one another based on the information processing mechanisms involved. We argue that these behaviors share a common foundation, which we call collective information processing, or CIP. CIP involves two key mechanisms: (1) individual processing of group information and (2) group processing, or group-level sensitivity to the arrangement of individual information. We operationalize the CIP framework to analyze different forms of collective intelligence, both classifying them in relation to one another and in alignment with generalized quantifiable measures of information processing. Our account of collective intelligence as CIP offers a novel framework for identifying and classifying forms of collective intelligence across a wide range of disciplinary contexts. This framework is meant to unify and subsume, rather than simply challenge, existing attempts to define collective intelligence. • Collective intelligence (CI) inquiry lacks a multidisciplinary, unifying framework. • We propose that Collective Information Processing (CIP) underlies CI. • CIP distinguishes two forms of individual- and group-level processing. • CIP enables identification and classification of phenomena labeled as CI. • CIP advances debates about agency and causation within CI studies.