Modelling Socially Intelligent Agents - Bruce Edmonds

Modes of Communication in Social Interaction

Communication is a special case of action and perception. For this reason in many organisational models the communication is rudimentary - where this is implemented on a similar basis to other modelled actions. For example, in many economic models only the price is communicated, and then in a global manner to all the agents equally. However communication is so important in social situations and potentially so computationally onerous that effectively it becomes a separate consideration.

One concern, in this regard is the passivity of the communication in many models of interaction. One gets the impression that in many models agents tend to make requests for information and sometimes issue orders but will not, for instance, volunteer unrequested information. Thus many models of communication correspond to a unidirectional mutual (or merely one-way) transmission of information. For example, in many agent models concerned with negotiation between agents there is an assumption that communication will act using the pull of information in the form of requests and replies (in this way it extends the query based dialogue used in interrogating databases to one of interrogating other agents). This is in contrast to the mix of push and pull modes, found in social interaction - where unrequested information is frequently volunteered.

Modelling Socially Intelligent Agents - Bruce Edmonds - 17 DEC 97

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