  Recent works examine the relationship between the communication structure and
the performance of a group in a problem solving task. Some conclude that
inefficient communication networks with long paths outperform efficient
networks on the long run. Others find no influence of the network topology on
group performance. We contribute to this discussion by examining the role of
problem complexity. In particular, we study whether and how the complexity of
the problem at hand moderates the influence of the communication network on
group performance. Results obtained from multi-agent modelling suggest that
problem complexity indeed has an influence. We observe an influence of the
network only for problems of moderate difficulty. For easier or harder
problems, the influence of network topology becomes weaker or irrelevant, which
offers a possible explanation for inconsistencies in the literature.
