Event

Study: Teams without communication can gain information from opponents' reactions

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A game-theory and multi-agent study submitted by Gregory Falco proposes that teams unable to communicate can learn information invisible to individual members by reading an opponent's reaction to the group as a whole (a tell); one tell can substitute for message passing among all members. The study claims that, in the solved Gaussian model, the team obtains the truth by committing not to use all the information, and retains the hidden cost the opponent would otherwise have paid; an exact test can determine when this conclusion holds in finite games. The study also claims that when the opponent cares more about its own objective, a team that commits to keeping its word does not lose out; only when the opponent's stake exceeds what it gains by lying can the team achieve the same effect as a fully informed team. On trust allocation, the study states that two interchangeable members responding in different ways can substitute for a single member's private random source, and that a small discount on trust can guard against misjudging the opponent.