Collective Intelligence Under a Volatile Task Environment: a Behavioral Experiment Using Social Networks and Computer Simulations

Collective intelligence in our highly-connected world is a topic of interdisciplinary interest. Previous research has demonstrated that social network structures can affect collective intelligence, but the potential network impact is unknown when the task environment is volatile (i.e., optimal behavioral options can change over time), a common situation in modern societies. Here, we report a laboratory experiment in which a total of 250 participants performed a “restless” two-armed bandit task either alone, or collectively in a centralized or decentralized network. Although both network conditions outperformed the solo condition, no sizable performance difference was detected between the centralized and decentralized networks. To understand the absence of network effects, we analyzed participants’ behavior parametrically using an individual choice model. We then conducted exhaustive agent-based simulations to examine how different choice strategies may underlie collective performance in centralized or decentralized networks under volatile or stationary task environments. We found that, compared to the stationary environment, the difference in network structure had a much weaker impact on collective performance under the volatile environment across broad parametric variations. These results suggest that structural impacts of networks on collective intelligence may be constrained by the degree of environmental volatility.

Cellular Paradigm of Network Organization: Implications for Present-Day Society

Microorganisms and cultivated cells from human or animal tissues form complex network structures (colonies, biofilms, flocs, granules, etc.) that are characterized by efficient communication and behavior coordination in the absence of a central pacemaker. The decentralized (flat) network organization of such structures is due to the functioning of (a) information-transmitting intercellular contacts, (b) a signal field created by distant communication systems, including the quorum-sensing system; and (c) a biopolymer matrix that cements the cells of the whole network structure. Microbial network structures exist in the human organism, especially in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. The cellular networks engage in complex interaction with the host organism. The organism represents a complex combination of hierarchical structures and decentralized networks and includes the brain, the peripheral nervous system, the immune system, and the endocrine system. The interaction between the microbiota and the host may produce both positive and negative effects on the host’s physical and mental health, because decentralized networks are known to possess not only useful but also potentially harmful properties. Communication between microbial cells and the host organism involves neurochemicals, i.e., chemical compounds, whose functions include impulse transmission between nervous cells. In the final section, the cellular paradigm of network organization is envisaged as the conceptual basis of organizational technology aimed at creating efficient non-hierarchical creative teams that are cemented by common values and goals (the network matrix).