Crosstalk in concurrent repeated games impedes direct reciprocity and requires stronger levels of forgiveness

article Crosstalk in concurrent repeated games impedes direct reciprocity and requires stronger levels of forgiveness published yes Johannes Reiter author 4A918E98-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0002-0170-7353 Christian Hilbe author 2FDF8F3C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0001-5116-955X David Rand author Krishnendu Chatterjee author 2E5DCA20-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0002-4561-241X Martin Nowak author KrCh department Quantitative Graph Games: Theory and Applications project Modern Graph Algorithmic Techniques in Formal Verification project Game Theory project International IST Postdoc Fellowship Programme project Direct reciprocity is a mechanism for cooperation among humans. Many of our daily interactions are repeated. We interact repeatedly with our family, friends, colleagues, members of the local and even global community. In the theory of repeated games, it is a tacit assumption that the various games that a person plays simultaneously have no effect on each other. Here we introduce a general framework that allows us to analyze “crosstalk” between a player’s concurrent games. In the presence of crosstalk, the action a person experiences in one game can alter the person’s decision in another. We find that crosstalk impedes the maintenance of cooperation and requires stronger levels of forgiveness. The magnitude of the effect depends on the population structure. In more densely connected social groups, crosstalk has a stronger effect. A harsh retaliator, such as Tit-for-Tat, is unable to counteract crosstalk. The crosstalk framework provides a unified interpretation of direct and upstream reciprocity in the context of repeated games. https://research-explorer.ista.ac.at/download/454/4741/IST-2018-964-v1+1_2018_Hilbe_Crosstalk_in.pdf application/pdfno https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Nature Publishing Group2018 eng Nature Communications 00042431820000110.1038/s41467-017-02721-8 91 Reiter, Johannes, Christian Hilbe, David Rand, Krishnendu Chatterjee, and Martin Nowak. “Crosstalk in Concurrent Repeated Games Impedes Direct Reciprocity and Requires Stronger Levels of Forgiveness.” Nature Communications. Nature Publishing Group, 2018. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8</a>. Reiter J, Hilbe C, Rand D, Chatterjee K, Nowak M. Crosstalk in concurrent repeated games impedes direct reciprocity and requires stronger levels of forgiveness. Nature Communications. 2018;9(1). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8">10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8</a> Reiter J, Hilbe C, Rand D, Chatterjee K, Nowak M. 2018. Crosstalk in concurrent repeated games impedes direct reciprocity and requires stronger levels of forgiveness. Nature Communications. 9(1), 555. Reiter, J., Hilbe, C., Rand, D., Chatterjee, K., & Nowak, M. (2018). Crosstalk in concurrent repeated games impedes direct reciprocity and requires stronger levels of forgiveness. Nature Communications. Nature Publishing Group. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8</a> Reiter, Johannes, et al. “Crosstalk in Concurrent Repeated Games Impedes Direct Reciprocity and Requires Stronger Levels of Forgiveness.” Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, 555, Nature Publishing Group, 2018, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8">10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8</a>. J. Reiter, C. Hilbe, D. Rand, K. Chatterjee, M. Nowak, Nature Communications 9 (2018). J. Reiter, C. Hilbe, D. Rand, K. Chatterjee, and M. Nowak, “Crosstalk in concurrent repeated games impedes direct reciprocity and requires stronger levels of forgiveness,” Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1. Nature Publishing Group, 2018. 4542018-12-11T11:46:34Z2025-04-15T06:30:05Z