Experimental research on the echo chamber effect in science

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18018
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 90020:Library and information science, humanistic and social informatics-related
• Research Institution: Yasuda Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Suyama Masaki 安田女子大学, 心理学部, 講師 (60893229)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 文化進化 / 制度選択 / 実験ゲーム理論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we considered the echo chamber phenomenon occurring in science as a dilemma between exploration and exploitation, and conducted experimental game theory and laboratory experiments. Specifically, we regarded the situation scientists face as a type of anti-coordination game and implemented the El Farol Bar Game (EFBG), where participants could switch between two systems: one where they could choose their actions freely and another where an AI autonomously selected their actions. The hypothesis was that in the self-choice system, cooperation would fail, leading people to migrate to the AI-controlled system. However, the results showed that people started moving towards the self-choice system. Model studies revealed that this behavior could not be explained by simple reinforcement learning.

Free Research Field

実験社会科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義は、AIに対する全体的な不信感や不確実性が人々の協調行動を阻害してしまうことが明らかになった点である。現在、様々な領域においてAIの導入が行われている。これは科学業界においても例外ではなく、論文の検索や執筆においてAIのアシスタントが当たり前のように使われる時代となった。本研究はこうしたAIの効率的な利用によって協調問題を解消できる場面で人々があえてAIを使わないことを示唆した。これは科学業界だけでなく、他分野においてもAIに対する不信感や不確実性があると使わなくなるという社会的な意思決定が予測されるものと考えられる。