Many is more, but not too many: dimensions of cooperation of agents with and without predictive capabilities

This paper examines the tradeoffs between agents that can predict (and, therefore, take into account) other agent´s actions and agents that act on their own without taking other agents´ actions into account. A simple prediction mechanism allows agents to make reasonably accurate guesses about other agents´ future actions, thereby making better decisions about their own actions. Our experimental findings from a multiagent object collection task suggest that not only do predictive agents perform better than non-predictive agents, but there are circumstances in which simple reactive prediction mechanisms perform as well as complex deliberative prediction mechanisms.