Emergence of cooperation induced by preferential learning

Abstract

The evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma Game (PDG) and the Snowdrift Game (SG) with preferential learning mechanism are studied in the Barabási-Albert network. Simulation results demonstrate that the preferential learning of individuals remarkably promotes the cooperative behavior for both two games over a wide range of payoffs. To understand the effect of preferential learning on the evolution of the systems, we investigate the time series of the cooperator density for different preferential strength and payoffs. It is found that in some specific cases two games both show the $1/f$-scaling behaviors, which indicate the existence of long range correlation. We also figure out that when the large degree nodes have high probability to be selected, the PDG displays a punctuated equilibrium-type behavior. On the contrary, the SG exhibits a sudden increase feature. These temporary instable behaviors are ascribed to the strategy shift of the large degree nodes.