IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chsofr/v192y2025ics0960077924014875.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An evidence-accumulating drift–diffusion model of competing information spread on networks

Author

Listed:
  • Corsin, Julien
  • Zino, Lorenzo
  • Ye, Mengbin

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an agent-based model of information spread, grounded on psychological insights on the formation and spread of beliefs. In our model, we consider a network of individuals who share two opposing types of information on a specific topic (e.g., pro- vs. anti-vaccine stances), and the accumulation of evidence supporting either type of information is modelled by means of a drift–diffusion process. After formalising the model, we put forward a campaign of Monte Carlo simulations to identify population-wide behaviours emerging from agents’ exposure to different sources of information, investigating the impact of the number and persistence of such sources, and the role of the network structure through which the individuals interact. We find similar emergent behaviours for all network structures considered. When there is a single type of information, the main observed emergent behaviour is consensus. When there are opposing information sources, both consensus or polarisation can result; the latter occurs if the number and persistence of the sources exceeds a threshold value identified in the simulations. Importantly, we find the emergent behaviour is mainly influenced by how long the information sources are present for, as opposed to how many sources there are.

Suggested Citation

  • Corsin, Julien & Zino, Lorenzo & Ye, Mengbin, 2025. "An evidence-accumulating drift–diffusion model of competing information spread on networks," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:192:y:2025:i:c:s0960077924014875
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2024.115935
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960077924014875
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chaos.2024.115935?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:192:y:2025:i:c:s0960077924014875. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Thayer, Thomas R. (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/chaos-solitons-and-fractals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.