

Preprint 12/2013
Group level effects of social versus individual learning
Jürgen Jost and Wei Li
Contact the author: Please use for correspondence this email.
Submission date: 29. Jan. 2013 (revised version: January 2013)
Pages: 11
published in: Theory in biosciences, 132 (2013) 2, p. 115-121
DOI number (of the published article): 10.1007/s12064-013-0175-6
Bibtex
Keywords and phrases: social learning, individual learning
Download full preprint: PDF (6375 kB)
Abstract:
We study the effects of learning by imitating others within the framework of an
iterated game in which the members of two complementary
populations interact via random pairing at each round. This allows us
to compare both the fitness of different strategies within a
population and the performance of populations in which members have
access to different types of strategies. Previous
studies reveal some emergent dynamics at the population level when
players learn individually. We here investigate a different
mechanism in which players can choose between two different learning strategies,
individual or social. Imitating behavior can spread within a mixed population,
with the frequency of imitators varying over generation time. When
compared to a pure population with solely individual learners, a
mixed population with both individual- and social learners can
do better, independently of the precise learning scheme employed. We
can then search for the best imitating strategy. Imitating the
neighbor with the highest payoff turns out to be consistently
superior. This is in agreement with
findings in experimental and model studies that have been
carried out in different settings.