How do cooperative vs. competitive activities impact the learning patterns of an individual?
In this question are mixed different topics that are not very well categorized, to find documents or specific tests is better to adapt certain topics, is not usually talk of cooperative versus competitive activities, but individual versus group activities.

In research on the judgment or solution of group problems, the hypothesis is implicit that the interaction brings to the product of the group something other than the mere combination of the individual products (Shaw in the book of 1981, Group dynamics, about individual learning and group learning). Look for high performance groups. In social psychology an enormous amount of variables have been studied, many of it in relation to learning and personality.

In relation to the field of AI:
Different programs could establish contact, store, learn and put into practice different ways of solving the problem.

Interesting books:


Ferber, J. Multi-Agent System: An Introduction to Distributed Artificial Intelligence.
Grace, D. and Zhang, H. Cognitive Communications, Distributed Artificial Inteligence.