1
The accuracy of Slime Mold to make the correct decision
with latency trade-off
18/2/2025
I. INTRODUCTION
, 2
Physarum polycephalum, otherwise known as slime mold, is an amoeboid organism part
of the supergroup of eukaryotes, Amoebozoan. Much like humans, slime molds are able
to make decisions and are able to show to have a difficult time making those decisions
based on latency. Some of the choices the slime mold may make can also be wrong
which is observed through accuracy by giving the correct choice and the incorrect ones.
Knowing how slime mold behaves in regard to their intelligence may be used to use
nature to solve real world problems rather than relying so heavily on AI.
Unlike humans however, the slime mold cannot be given clear instructions, so its
accuracy-latency tradeoff was measured in a different manner: by placing the slime mold
in an agar plate with four sources of nutrient with different percentages of oatmeal in the
mix and seeing if the slime mold would be able to pick the highest percentage as the
correct choice and using the time it took to make that choice. This would parallel how
humans take longer to choose with difficult choices.
Similarly, a study such as this was conducted with slime molds’ accuracy-latency using
Australian-brand oatmeal. Additionally, light and hunger as an additional factor to help
with the slime mold decide quicker. Results from the experiment depict that the slime
mold was more influenced by hunger compared to light when making the accurate choice
of choosing the 10% food disc instead of the other lower percentages (Beekman and
Latty).
The hypothesis for this experiment is that the slime mold has quicker time selecting the
correct choice of 10% oatmeal food disc in an easy setting between 0%, 2%, 6%, and
The accuracy of Slime Mold to make the correct decision
with latency trade-off
18/2/2025
I. INTRODUCTION
, 2
Physarum polycephalum, otherwise known as slime mold, is an amoeboid organism part
of the supergroup of eukaryotes, Amoebozoan. Much like humans, slime molds are able
to make decisions and are able to show to have a difficult time making those decisions
based on latency. Some of the choices the slime mold may make can also be wrong
which is observed through accuracy by giving the correct choice and the incorrect ones.
Knowing how slime mold behaves in regard to their intelligence may be used to use
nature to solve real world problems rather than relying so heavily on AI.
Unlike humans however, the slime mold cannot be given clear instructions, so its
accuracy-latency tradeoff was measured in a different manner: by placing the slime mold
in an agar plate with four sources of nutrient with different percentages of oatmeal in the
mix and seeing if the slime mold would be able to pick the highest percentage as the
correct choice and using the time it took to make that choice. This would parallel how
humans take longer to choose with difficult choices.
Similarly, a study such as this was conducted with slime molds’ accuracy-latency using
Australian-brand oatmeal. Additionally, light and hunger as an additional factor to help
with the slime mold decide quicker. Results from the experiment depict that the slime
mold was more influenced by hunger compared to light when making the accurate choice
of choosing the 10% food disc instead of the other lower percentages (Beekman and
Latty).
The hypothesis for this experiment is that the slime mold has quicker time selecting the
correct choice of 10% oatmeal food disc in an easy setting between 0%, 2%, 6%, and
