Behavioral spillovers and cognitive load in multiple games: An experimental study

B-Tier
Journal: Games and Economic Behavior
Year: 2012
Volume: 74
Issue: 1
Pages: 12-31

Authors (4)

Bednar, Jenna (not in RePEc) Chen, Yan (not in RePEc) Liu, Tracy Xiao (Tsinghua University) Page, Scott (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We present evidence from laboratory experiments of behavioral spillovers and cognitive load that spread across strategic contexts. In the experiments, subjects play two distinct games simultaneously with different opponents. We find that the strategies chosen and the efficiency of outcomes in one game depends on the other game that the subject plays, and that play is altered in predictable directions. We develop a measure of behavioral variation in a normal form game, outcome entropy, and find that prevalent strategies in games with low outcome entropy are more likely to be used in the games with high outcome entropy, but not vice versa. Taken together, these findings suggest that people do not treat strategic situations in isolation, but may instead develop heuristics that they apply across games.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:gamebe:v:74:y:2012:i:1:p:12-31
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25