Mathematical modelling of decision cycles in a competitive environment with neutral parties

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mathematical model combining ecological population dynamics with decision-making oscillators to better understand competitive interactions involving neutral parties.

Contribution

It extends existing competition models by integrating decision dynamics via coupled oscillators, highlighting the role of agility and decision processes in success.

Findings

Decision dynamics significantly influence competitive outcomes.

Increased complexity in models reveals the importance of agility.

Coupling ecological and decision models provides new insights.

Abstract

Decision making is a human process that is a fundamental part of competition. As a realisation of decision making, Command and Control, or C2, has been studied in the literature for adversarial populations, yet these models do not explicitly capture competition. Our work here seeks to enrich such competition models by extending ecologically inspired population models to include decision dynamics through coupling with a nonlinear system of oscillators (the Kuramoto equation) to model the action-perception cycle in decision making. Through asymmetric competition models of increasing complexity, we highlight the importance of competitive agility and decision making processes necessary for a population to be successful.