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Transition from simple to complex contagion in collective decision-making.
Nikolaj Horsevad1, David Mateo2, Robert E Kooij3,4
1University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. nikolajhorsevad@gmail.com.
Nature Communications
|March 18, 2022
Summary
Behavior spread transitions from simple to complex contagion in collective decision-making, even without thresholds. The pace of behavior and network structure critically influence transmission dynamics in animals, humans, and robots.
Area of Science:
- Collective behavior
- Social network dynamics
- Robotics
Background:
- Behavior propagation in social networks can shift from simple contagion (pairwise interactions) to complex contagion (social influence/reinforcement).
- Previous observations of this transition were limited to threshold-based decision-making with binary choices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the simple-to-complex contagion transition occurs in non-threshold-based decision-making models.
- To explore the factors influencing this transition in archetypal distributed decision-making systems.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical modeling of behavior spread in distributed decision-making.
- Experimental validation using a multi-robot system.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated a transition from simple to complex contagion in a model without thresholds or nonlinearities.
- Identified the intrinsic pace of spreading behavior as a key determinant of contagion type.
- Showed that network topology significantly impacts behavioral transmission effectiveness, similar to threshold-based models.
Conclusions:
- The simple-to-complex contagion transition is not exclusive to threshold-based systems.
- Behavioral pace and network topology are crucial factors in understanding behavioral spread in collective decision-making.
- Findings provide new avenues for studying behavioral contagions and designing cooperative robotic systems.
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