Modeling social groups in crowds using Common Ground Theory

Social interaction and group coordination are important factors in the simulation of human crowd behavior. To date, few simulation methods have been informed by models of human group behavior from the social science studies. In this paper we advance a computational model informed by Common Ground (CG) Theory that both inherits the social realism provided by the CG model and is computationally tractable for a large number of groups and individuals. The task of navigation in a group is viewed as performing a joint activity among agents, which requires effective coordination among group members. Our model includes both macro and micro coordination, addressing the joint plans, and the actions for coordination respectively. These coordination activities and plans inform the high-level route and walking strategies of the agents. We demonstrate a series of studies to show the qualitative and quantitative differences in simulation results with and without incorporation of the CG model.