Objective: The objective is to clarify the nature of cooperative moving behavior that realizes smooth traffic with others from the viewpoint of the trade-off between self-benefit and others' benefit in the shared space.
Background: The shared space is not constrained by formal rules or behavioral norms, and is a potentially ambiguous situation where it is not clear who has priority. Therefore, the nature of cooperative behavior in the shared space is unclear.
Method: An experimental task was conducted to compare cooperative and nonurgent moving behavior regarding completion time (self-benefit), the amount of interruption (others' benefit), and the amount of operation (cognitive effort).
Results: First, cooperative behavior benefits others. Second, although cooperative behavior decreases self-benefit compared to the baseline without any instructions, it can obtain relatively more self-benefit than nonurgent behavior without considering self-benefit. Third, cooperative behavior requires cognitive effort.
Conclusion: Cooperative behavior provides benefit to both oneself and others by spending cognitive effort in not interrupting others.
Application: If the nature of the cooperative behavior can be clarified, a cooperative module can be implemented into the algorithms of various mobilities.
Keywords: cognitive effort; cooperative behavior; nonurgent behavior; others’ benefit; self-benefit.