On the Salience-Based Level-k Model

Abstract

In the current literature, there is a lively debate about whether a level-k model can be based on salience to explain behaviour in games with distinctive action labels such as hide-and-seek or discoordination games. This study presents six different experiments designed to measure salience. When based on any of these empirical salience measures, the standard level-k model does not explain hide-and-seek behaviour. Modifying the model such that players followsalience when payoffs are equal, the model fits hide-and-seek data well. However, neither the original nor the modified model account for data from a discoordination game. This holds true even when basing the level-k prediction on participants’ own individual salience assessments.