Understanding and Modeling Coordination in the Minimum Effort Game

Groups of individuals need to coordinate in many real world domains. However, coordination failure is common and not well understood. There are few coordination measurements, analyses focus on averaged data, and models lack coordination strategies and clear correspondence to cognitive mechanisms. Here, we present a thorough analysis of human data from a difficult coordination scenario and a cognitive model implemented within the ACT-R cognitive architecture to fit and explain the data. Data were explored to better understand coordination strategies and group dynamics. The cognitive model included pre-game preferences, coordination strategies like signaling, and other player choice predictions. This work highlights the need for deeper data explorations and presents challenges for modeling related to coordination dynamics, strategies, and how players form beliefs about others