Cooperation and age structure in spatial games

We study the evolution of cooperation in evolutionary spatial games when the payoff correlates with the increasing age of players (the level of correlation is set through a single parameter, α). The demographic heterogeneous age distribution, directly affecting the outcome of the game, is thus shown...

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Published inPhysical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics Vol. 85; no. 1 Pt 1; p. 011149
Main Authors Wang, Zhen, Zhu, Xiaodan, Arenzon, Jeferson J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 31.01.2012
Subjects
Aging - physiology
Computer Simulation
Cooperative Behavior
Game Theory
Humans
Models, Biological
Reward
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Summary:We study the evolution of cooperation in evolutionary spatial games when the payoff correlates with the increasing age of players (the level of correlation is set through a single parameter, α). The demographic heterogeneous age distribution, directly affecting the outcome of the game, is thus shown to be responsible for enhancing the cooperative behavior in the population. In particular, moderate values of α allow cooperators not only to survive but to outcompete defectors, even when the temptation to defect is large and the ageless, standard α=0 model does not sustain cooperation. The interplay between age structure and noise is also considered, and we obtain the conditions for optimal levels of cooperation.
ISSN:1550-2376
DOI:10.1103/physreve.85.011149