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The importance of memory for the success of cooperation under ecological adversity

David N. Sousa,L. Correia,L. Garcia-Marques

Published 2019 in Adaptive Behavior

ABSTRACT

While cooperation maximizes collective welfare, selfishness maximizes short-term individual benefits. Why should any organism cooperate? Selfishness seems to be favored by natural selection. While this presents a classical dilemma in many fields, cooperation is observed at all levels of biological organization. By preserving the common good, cooperation may guarantee better survival chances for all. Evolution and maintenance of cooperation are possible by a combination of multiple mechanisms including reciprocity, which in primates and particularly in humans is largely dependent on memory and the ability to exchange social information, a function of language. In this article, we present a multi-agent model developed with the aim of evaluating the importance of memory in cognitive and social adaptations for cooperation based on reciprocity when populations are under ecological stress. We show that in a society under ecological pressure, the reciprocity network permitted by collaborative memory promotes cooperation.

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