Antipersistant Effects in the Dynamics of a Competing Population

We consider a population of agents competing for finite resources using strategies based on two channels of signals. The model is applicable to financial markets, ecosystems and computer networks. We find that the dynamics of the system is determined by the correlation between the two channels. In particular, occasional mismatches of the signals induce a series of transitions among numerous attractors. Surprisingly, in contrast to the effects of noises on dynamical systems normally resulting in a large number of attractors, the number of attractors due to the mismatched signals remains finite. Both simulations and analyses show that this can be explained by the antipersistent nature of the dynamics. Antipersistence refers to the response of the system to a given signal being opposite to that of the signal's previous occurrence, and is a consequence of the competition of the agents to make minority decisions. Thus, it is essential for stabilizing the dynamical systems.