City Research Online

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the effect of a non-trivial topology on the dynamics of the so-called Naming Game, a recently introduced model which addresses the issue of how shared conventions emerge spontaneously in a population of agents. We consider in particular the small-world topology and study the convergence towards the global agreement as a function of the population size N as well as of the parameter p which sets the rate of rewiring leading to the small-world network. As long as p > > 1/N, there exists a crossover time scaling as N/p2 which separates an early one-dimensional–like dynamics from a late-stage mean-field–like behavior. At the beginning of the process, the local quasi–one-dimensional topology induces a coarsening dynamics which allows for a minimization of the cognitive effort (memory) required to the agents. In the late stages, on the other hand, the mean-field–like topology leads to a speed-up of the convergence process with respect to the one-dimensional case.

Publication Type:	Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Departments:	School of Science & Technology > Mathematics
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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