Catching (digital) butterflies for citizen science

An adaption of the hungry birds butterfly pattern evolution game to provide a citizen science activity at the Paris Natural History Museum. In these kinds of experiments humans are used as simulation predators to investigate how patterns evolve to evade capture in a tropical environment.

In this game some of the butterfly patterns are assigned to be profitable - in that they increase your 'energy level', while others reduce your ability to catch prey and 'taste disgusting!'. Every game the patterns are randomly chosen, and have to be learned by the player as they play the game. The experiment is measuring the length of time it takes for people to learn, as well as the different kinds of patterns involved in this process. The research and findings were published in this journal article.