Doubly effects of information sharing on interdependent network reciprocity

Abstract

Understanding large-scale cooperation among unrelated individuals is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Since human cooperation evolves on social networks, the theoretical framework of multilayer networks is perfectly suited for studying this fascinating aspect of our biology. To that effect, we here study the cooperation in evolutionary games on interdependent networks, such that players in one network layer play the snowdrift game (SDG), and the prisoner's dilemma game (PDG) in the other layer. Importantly, players are able to share information across two layers, which in turn affects their strategy choices. Monte Carlo simulations reveal that the transfer of information about the strategy of the corresponding player in the other network layer alone is enough to significantly promote the overall level of cooperation. However, while the cooperation is markedly enhanced in the layer where the PDG is played, the opposite is true, albeit to a lesser extent, for the layer where the SDG is played. The net increase in cooperation is thus due to a doubly effect of information sharing. We show further that the more complete the information transfer, the more the overall level of cooperation is promoted, and that this holds as long as the information channels between the player do not vary over time. We discuss potential implications of these findings for future human experiments concerning the cooperation on multilayer networks.

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