Spaces of imitation

This paper presents an imitation mechanism and a study of its behavior in spatial grid-based configurations. The imitation mechanism replicates external signals without associating with objects, as in higher-level imitation; it is therefore a model of proto-imitation where agents imitate unconditionally the agents they happen to interact with. We study the mechanism in 2D space to understand how it influences the emerging spatial structures. Our results indicate that in the absence of ¿adults¿, i.e agents that act as tutors and do not imitate others, the whole grid eventually stabilizes to one common language for all agents. This is more rapid when various agent mobility schemes are introduced. Complex local micro-languages may emerge permanently, for example if a fair number of adults is present or temporarily if new words have to be invented from time to time, for example to account for new environmental stimuli or cultural factors. All our results suggest that a purely reactive proto-imitation mechanism can suffice to produce various language configurations in space, without the need for agents to reason explicitly on conditions and possible outcomes of language adoption.