Deviation from Nash mixed equilibrium in repeated rock-scissors-paper reflect individual traits

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Current psychiatric diagnoses rely on symptoms, which can mask underlying neurobiological differences.
• There's a growing need to understand aberrant mental health through neurobehavioral functioning and pathophysiology.
• Individual variations in social behavior may reflect underlying genomic, metabolic, or neurobiological differences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an experimental framework for assaying social interaction and individual neurobehavioral traits.
• To investigate human deviation from game theory equilibrium in a social context.
• To explore the relationship between social interaction patterns and traits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Main Methods:

• Utilized a repeated Rock-Paper-Scissors game against an AI agent as a social interaction assay.
• Analyzed human deviation from the Nash Mixed Equilibrium strategy using switching heuristic lag-1 conditional response rules.
• Administered the Autism Quotient Abridged survey to participants.

Main Results:

• Quantified and interpreted individual rule sets derived from game play as mirroring unique traits.
• Found that behavioral features from game play could predict subscores of the social, imagination, and routine factors in the Autism Quotient Abridged survey.
• Demonstrated that deviation from optimal game strategy reflects attempts to mimic randomness and avoid exploitation.

Conclusions:

• The Rock-Paper-Scissors game serves as a viable assay for individual social behavior and neurobehavioral functioning.
• Game play patterns correlate with specific traits relevant to understanding conditions like ASD.
• This approach offers a potential pathway for more targeted interventions and biomedical treatments in mental health.