,
7 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
Finally out!!"Connecting empirical phenomena and theoretical models of biological coordination across scales" w/Beetle,@scott_kelso& @ETognoli doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2… realizing my dream of using lab experiments of multiagent interaction to inform modeling of complex systems!1/7
A fan of social psych in my previous life, I was puzzled upon first contact with Complexity Science why large-scale models of interacting agents are reluctant to take hints from what we know about how ppl actually interact/adapt after decades of (small-scale) experiments. 2/7
I decided to do something about it. This turned out non-trivial. To derive a large-scale model directly from small-scale experimental observations, one may immediately be called a reductionist. The key is to capture what is relevant across micro/macro levels of description. 3/7
Thus we designed a special paradigm to study "mid-scale" coordination among 8 ppl in the lab, where we can manipulate each person's "intrinsic" dynamics and the network connectivity between all of them. The experiment was nicknamed the "Human Firefly" experiment. 4/7 
In this paper, we look for the simplest model that captures observations from the Human Firefly experiment on MULTIPLE levels of description - dyads, groups, ensembles. The final model happens to be a marriage b/w 2 classical models of large- & small-scale coordination. 5/7
This marriage has an interesting implication - a small addition of complexity at small-scale (e.g. coexistence of multiple stable states - multistable, intermittent coordinative relations - metastable, pic A) can give rise to formidable complexity as the system grows large! 6/7
Or how simple a micro model should be so that "from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." See this tweet for a back story: 7/7
