Modeling individual differences in socioeconomic game playing

Abstract

Game theory has been useful for understanding risk-taking and cooperative behavior.In the present study, subjects played the Hawk-Dove game with simulated and embodied (robotic) neural agents which used a neurobiologically plausible model of action selection and adaptive behaviors.Subjects had their serotonin levels temporarily altered through acute tryptophan depletion (ATD).The traditional assumption for subject data from Game-theory-ATD or human robot interaction (HRI) studies is that all participants come from the same underlying distribution or same group.We used probabilistic graphical models in order to determine potential sub-group affiliations based on the subjects' responses while playing the Hawk-Dove game.The results from the models indicate sub-groups within a subject population exist.We find that two-group, one that tends toward cooperation and the other that tends toward aggression, best describes the effect of subject behavior in response to ATD and embodiment.