Observational learning of tool use in children: Investigating cultural spread through diffusion chains and learning mechanisms through ghost displays

Research into robotic social learning, especially that concerned with imitation, often focuses at differing ends of a spectrum from observational learning at one end to following or matched-dependent behaviour at the other. We study the implications and differences that arise when carrying out experiments both at the extremes and within this spectrum. Physical Khepera robots with minimal sensory capabilities are used, and after training, experiments are carried out where an imitating robot perceives the dynamic movement behaviours of another model robot carrying a light source. It learns the movement behaviour of the model by either statically observing the model, dynamically observing the model or by following the model. It ﬁnally re-enacts the learnt behaviour. We compare the results of these re-enactments and illustrate the differences and trade-offs that arise between static observational and reactive following learning methods. We also consider circumstances where, for this robotic embodiment, dynamic observation has both advantages and disadvantages when compared to static observation. We conclude by discussing the implications that arise from using and combining these types of social learning.

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A cross-cultural investigation of young children's spontaneous invention of tool use behaviours

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.192240 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (5) ◽

pp. 192240 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Karri Neldner ◽

Eva Reindl ◽

Claudio Tennie ◽

Julie Grant ◽

Keyan Tomaselli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tool Use ◽

Large City ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Great Ape ◽

Learning Mechanisms ◽

Cultural Contexts ◽

Australian Sample ◽

Level Of Difficulty ◽

Task Sets ◽

Physical Capacities

Through the mechanisms of observation, imitation and teaching, young children readily pick up the tool using behaviours of their culture. However, little is known about the baseline abilities of children's tool use: what they might be capable of inventing on their own in the absence of socially provided information. It has been shown that children can spontaneously invent 11 of 12 candidate tool using behaviours observed within the foraging behaviours of wild non-human apes (Reindl et al . 2016 Proc. R. Soc. B 283 , 20152402. ( doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.2402 )). However, no investigations to date have examined how tool use invention in children might vary across cultural contexts. The current study investigated the levels of spontaneous tool use invention in 2- to 5-year-old children from San Bushmen communities in South Africa and children in a large city in Australia on the same 12 candidate problem-solving tasks. Children in both cultural contexts correctly invented all 12 candidate tool using behaviours, suggesting that these behaviours are within the general cognitive and physical capacities of human children and can be produced in the absence of direct social learning mechanisms such as teaching or observation. Children in both cultures were more likely to invent those tool behaviours more frequently observed in great ape populations than those less frequently observed, suggesting there is similarity in the level of difficulty of invention across these behaviours for all great ape species. However, children in the Australian sample invented tool behaviours and succeeded on the tasks more often than did the Bushmen children, highlighting that aspects of a child's social or cultural environment may influence the rates of their tool use invention on such task sets, even when direct social information is absent.

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Naïve orangutans (Pongo abelii & Pongo pygmaeus) individually acquire nut-cracking using hammer tools

10.1101/2020.04.21.052712 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Elisa Bandini ◽

Johannes Grossmann ◽

Martina Funk ◽

Anna Albiach Serrano ◽

Claudio Tennie

Keyword(s):

Social Learning ◽

Tool Use ◽

Pongo Pygmaeus ◽

Primate Species ◽

Learning Mechanisms ◽

Pongo Abelii ◽

Unique Nature ◽

In The Wild ◽

Nut Cracking ◽

Age Range

AbstractNut-cracking using hammer tools has been argued to be one of the most complex tool-use behaviours observed in non-human animals (henceforth: animals). Recently, even the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) recognised the unique nature of chimpanzee nut-cracking by making it the first animal behaviour to be awarded UN-protected status (Picheta, 2020). So far, only chimpanzees, capuchins and macaques have been observed using tools to crack nuts in the wild (Boesch & Boesch, 1990; Gumert, Kluck, & Malaivijitnond, 2009; Ottoni & Mannu, 2001). However, the learning mechanisms behind this behaviour, and the extent of nut-cracking in other primate species are still unknown. The aim of this study was two-fold. First, we aimed to examine whether other great ape species would develop nut-cracking when provided with all the tools and motivation to do so. Second, we wanted to examine the mechanisms behind the emergence of nut-cracking in a naïve sample. Orangutans (Pongo abelii; pygmaeus) have not been observed cracking nuts in the wild, despite having the second most extensive tool-use repertoire of the great apes (after chimpanzees), having the materials for the behaviour in the wild (albeit rarely) and possessing flexible problem-solving capacities. Therefore, orangutans are a valid candidate species for the investigation of the development of nut-cracking. Four nut-cracking-naïve orangutans at Leipzig zoo (Pongo abelii; Mage=16; age range=10-19; 4F; at time of testing) were provided with nuts and hammers but were not demonstrated the nut-cracking behavioural form, in order to control for the role of copying social learning in the acquisition of this behaviour. Additionally, we report data from a previously unpublished study by one of the authors (MF) with eight orangutans housed at Zürich zoo (10 Pongo abelii and two Pongo pygmaeus; Mage=14; age range =2-30; 5F; at time of testing) that followed a similar testing paradigm. Out of the twelve orangutans across both testing institutions, at least four individuals, one from Leipzig (Pongo abelii) and three from Zürich (Pongo abelii; pygmaeus), spontaneously expressed nut-cracking with a wooden hammer. These results suggest that the behavioural form of nut-cracking using hammer tools can emerge in orangutans when required through individual learning combined, in some cases, with non-copying social learning mechanisms.

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Task Aspects Triggering Observational Learning in Jackdaws (Corvus monedula)

Animal Behavior and Cognition ◽

10.26451/abc.07.04.08.2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 567-588

Author(s):

Berenika Mioduszewska ◽

Xenia Schleuning ◽

Anaïs Brunon ◽

Mark O’Hara ◽

Alice M. I. Auersperg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Observational Learning ◽

Task Complexity ◽

Animal Cognition ◽

Learning Mechanisms ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Action Sequence ◽

Future Studies ◽

Informational Cues ◽

Foraging Task ◽

Corvus Monedula

Complex novel tasks are often used in animal cognition research to allow discrimination between various learning mechanisms. Successful performance relies on the capacity to identify informational cues from features in the environment. Additionally, observational learning is often considered more beneficial for survival than individual learning. Despite the importance of controlling task complexity, it can often be challenging to operationalize. This study investigated whether jackdaws, a highly social corvid species, can learn to drop stones inside a tube to release a reward after observing a trained conspecific. Additionally, it aimed to identify the underlying learning mechanisms and to detect the informational cues triggering learning. A research design was developed to highlight different aspects of the required action sequence. Experimental conditions included a conspecific model demonstrating the full sequence, parts of the sequence, consuming the reward without solving the task, and consuming the reward after the solution was demonstrated without a visible model. None of the 12 naïve jackdaws solved the task in pretests. Two subjects started solving in test sessions and they developed modified versions of the demonstrated action. Observing the full action sequence performed by a conspecific seemed to trigger learning. The majority of the subjects exhibited changes in their stone-oriented behavior, most likely due to stimulus and/or local enhancement. As predicted, jackdaws were influenced by conspecific model demonstrations when manipulating a complex novel foraging task. Factors contributing to the apparent task difficulty and directions for future studies are discussed within a tri-dimensional framework including the task, setup, and individuals.

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Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.9877 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. e9877 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Elisa Bandini ◽

Claudio Tennie

Keyword(s):

Social Learning ◽

Tool Use ◽

Animal Species ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Individual Learning ◽

The Other ◽

Learning Approach ◽

Learning Mechanisms ◽

The Individual

The notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal behaviour literature is biased towards a social learning approach, in which animal, and in particular primate, tool-use repertoires are thought to require social learning mechanisms (copying variants of social learning are most often invoked). However, concrete evidence for a widespread dependency on social learning is still lacking. On the other hand, a growing body of observational and experimental data demonstrates that various animal species are capable of acquiring the forms of their tool-use behaviours via individual learning, with (non-copying) social learning regulating the frequencies of the behavioural forms within (and, indirectly, between) groups. As a first outline of the extent of the role of individual learning in animal tool-use, a literature review of reports of the spontaneous acquisition of animal tool-use behaviours was carried out across observational and experimental studies. The results of this review suggest that perhaps due to the pervasive focus on social learning in the literature, accounts of the individual learning of tool-use forms by naïve animals may have been largely overlooked, and their importance under-examined.

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Spread of arbitrary conventions among chimpanzees: a controlled experiment

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2006.3733 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 274 (1608) ◽

pp. 367-372 ◽

Cited By ~ 96

Author(s):

Kristin E Bonnie ◽

Victoria Horner ◽

Andrew Whiten ◽

Frans B.M de Waal

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Pan Troglodytes ◽

Tool Use ◽

Ecological Validity ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Functional Material ◽

Learning Mechanisms ◽

Logical Connection ◽

Action Sequences ◽

Group Member

Wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) have a rich cultural repertoire—traditions common in some communities are not present in others. The majority of reports describe functional, material traditions, such as tool use. Arbitrary conventions have received far less attention. In the same way that observations of material culture in wild apes led to experiments to confirm social transmission and identify underlying learning mechanisms, experiments investigating how arbitrary habits or conventions arise and spread within a group are also required. The few relevant experimental studies reported thus far have relied on cross-species (i.e. human–ape) interaction offering limited ecological validity, and no study has successfully generated a tradition not involving tool use in an established group. We seeded one of two rewarded alternative endpoints to a complex sequence of behaviour in each of two chimpanzee groups. Each sequence spread in the group in which it was seeded, with many individuals unambiguously adopting the sequence demonstrated by a group member. In one group, the alternative sequence was discovered by a low ranking female, but was not learned by others. Since the action-sequences lacked meaning before the experiment and had no logical connection with reward, chimpanzees must have extracted both the form and benefits of these sequences through observation of others.

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