arXiv subjects

Xiaojie Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Xiaojie Chen.

79 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Impact of generalized benefit functions on the evolution of cooperation in spatial public goods games with continuous strategies

Cooperation and defection may be considered as two extreme responses to a social dilemma. Yet the reality is much less clear-cut. Between the two extremes lies an interval of ambivalent choices, which may be captured theoretically by means of continuous strategies defining the extent of the contributions of each individual player to the common pool. If strategies are chosen from the unit interval, where 0 corresponds to pure defection and 1 corresponds to the maximal contribution, the question is what is the characteristic level of individual investments to the common pool that emerges if the evolution is guided by different benefit functions. Here we consider the steepness and the threshold as two parameters defining an array of generalized benefit functions, and we show that in a structured population there exist intermediate values of both at which the collective contributions are maximal. However, as the cost-to-benefit ratio of cooperation increases the characteristic threshold decreases, while the corresponding steepness increases. Our observations remain valid if more complex sigmoid functions are used, thus reenforcing the importance of carefully adjusted benefits for high levels of public cooperation.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2012

Win-stay-lose-learn promotes cooperation in the spatial prisoner's dilemma game

Holding on to one's strategy is natural and common if the later warrants success and satisfaction. This goes against widespread simulation practices of evolutionary games, where players frequently consider changing their strategy even though their payoffs may be marginally different than those of the other players. Inspired by this observation, we introduce an aspiration-based win-stay-lose-learn strategy updating rule into the spatial prisoner's dilemma game. The rule is simple and intuitive, foreseeing strategy changes only by dissatisfied players, who then attempt to adopt the strategy of one of their nearest neighbors, while the strategies of satisfied players are not subject to change. We find that the proposed win-stay-lose-learn rule promotes the evolution of cooperation, and it does so very robustly and independently of the initial conditions. In fact, we show that even a minute initial fraction of cooperators may be sufficient to eventually secure a highly cooperative final state. In addition to extensive simulation results that support our conclusions, we also present results obtained by means of the pair approximation of the studied game. Our findings continue the success story of related win-stay strategy updating rules, and by doing so reveal new ways of resolving the prisoner's dilemma.

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2007

Evolutionary game dynamics in inhomogeneous populations

To our knowledge, the populations are generally assumed to be homogeneous in the traditional approach to evolutionary game dynamics. Here, we focus on the inhomogeneous populations. A simple model which can describe the inhomogeneity of the populations and a microscopic process which is similar to Moran Process are presented. By studying the replicator dynamics, it is shown that this model also keeps the fixed points unchanged and can affect the speed of converging to the equilibrium state. The fixation probability and the fixation time of this model are computed and discussed. In the inhomogeneous populations, there are different situations that characterize the time scale of evolution; and in each situation, there exists an optimum solution for the time to the equilibrium points, respectively. Moreover, these results on the speed of evolution are valid for infinite and finite populations.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2007

Prisoner's Dilemma on community networks

We introduce a community network model which exhibits scale-free property and study the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma game (PDG) on this network model. It is found that the frequency of cooperators decreases with the increment of the average degree $\bar{k}$ from the simulation results. And reducing inter-community links can promote cooperation when we keep the total links (including inner-community and inter-community links) unchanged. It is also shown that the heterogeneity of networks does not always enhance cooperation and the pattern of links among all the vertices under a given degree-distribution plays a crucial role in the dominance of cooperation in the network model.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2007

Promotion of cooperation induced by the interplay between structure and game dynamics

We consider the coupled dynamics of the adaption of network structure and the evolution of strategies played by individuals occupying the network vertices. We propose a computational model in which each agent plays a $n$-round Prisoner's Dilemma game with its immediate neighbors, after that, based upon self-interest, partial individuals may punish their defective neighbors by dismissing the social tie to the one who defects the most times, meanwhile seek for a new partner at random from the neighbors of the punished agent. It is found that the promotion of cooperation is attributed to the entangled evolution of individual strategy and network structure. Moreover, we show that the emerging social networks exhibit high heterogeneity and disassortative mixing pattern. For a given average connectivity of the population and the number of rounds, there is a critical value for the fraction of individuals adapting their social interactions, above which cooperators wipe out defectors. Besides, the effects of the average degree, the number of rounds, and the intensity of selection are investigated by extensive numerical simulations. Our results to some extent reflect the underlying mechanism promoting cooperation.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2007

Social dilemmas in an online social network: the structure and evolution of cooperation

We investigate two paradigms for studying the evolution of cooperation--Prisoner's Dilemma and Snowdrift game in an online friendship network obtained from a social networking site. We demonstrate that such social network has small-world property and degree distribution has a power-law tail. Besides, it has hierarchical organizations and exhibits disassortative mixing pattern. We study the evolutionary version of the two types of games on it. It is found that enhancement and sustainment of cooperative behaviors are attributable to the underlying network topological organization. It is also shown that cooperators can survive when confronted with the invasion of defectors throughout the entire ranges of parameters of both games. The evolution of cooperation on empirical networks is influenced by various network effects in a combined manner, compared with that on model networks. Our results can help understand the cooperative behaviors in human groups and society.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2007

Influence of initial distributions on robust cooperation in evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma

We study the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma game on scale-free networks for different initial distributions. We consider three types of initial distributions for cooperators and defectors: initially random distribution with different frequencies of defectors; intentional organization with defectors initially occupying the most connected nodes with different fractions of defectors; intentional assignment for cooperators occupying the most connected nodes with different proportions of defectors at the beginning. It is shown that initial configurations for cooperators and defectors can influence the stationary level of cooperation and the evolution speed of cooperation. Organizations with the vertices with highest connectivity representing individuals cooperators could exhibit the most robust cooperation and drive evolutionary process to converge fastest to the high steady cooperation in the three situations of initial distributions. Otherwise, we determine the critical initial frequencies of defectors above which the extinction of cooperators occurs for the respective initial distributions, and find that the presence of network loops and clusters for cooperators can favor the emergence of cooperation.

physics.soc-ph↗