Edinburgh Napier University

  Most people will have observed the often impressive synchrony of the behavior of fish in a school or birds in a flock. The fact that the behavior of a fish is so well matched
to that of the behavior of others is straightforward: perception directly affects behavior. When a fish perceives a change of direction in another fish it simply matches this
change in direction. This direct link between perception and behavior can be easily witnessed in humans as well. We too match the behavior of others and we do this
simply because perception directly affects action. The specific behavioral changes perception can bring about differ between humans and fish, but the underlying mechanism is essentially the same. Perhaps we share this important psychological mechanism with a haddock. (Dijksterhuis, 2001, p. 105).