scholarly journals Processing of novel food reveals payoff and rank-biased social learning in a wild primate

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Canteloup ◽  
Mabia B. Cera ◽  
Brendan J. Barrett ◽  
Erica van de Waal
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Diffusion Experiment ◽  
Vervet Monkeys ◽  
Dynamic Learning ◽  
Novel Food ◽  
Bias Attention ◽  
Higher Rank ◽  
Learning From Others

AbstractSocial learning—learning from others—is the basis for behavioural traditions. Different social learning strategies (SLS), where individuals biasedly learn behaviours based on their content or who demonstrates them, may increase an individual’s fitness and generate behavioural traditions. While SLS have been mostly studied in isolation, their interaction and the interplay between individual and social learning is less understood. We performed a field-based open diffusion experiment in a wild primate. We provided two groups of vervet monkeys with a novel food, unshelled peanuts, and documented how three different peanut opening techniques spread within the groups. We analysed data using hierarchical Bayesian dynamic learning models that explore the integration of multiple SLS with individual learning. We (1) report evidence of social learning compared to strictly individual learning, (2) show that vervets preferentially socially learn the technique that yields the highest observed payoff and (3) also bias attention toward individuals of higher rank. This shows that behavioural preferences can arise when individuals integrate social information about the efficiency of a behaviour alongside cues related to the rank of a demonstrator. When these preferences converge to the same behaviour in a group, they may result in stable behavioural traditions.

scholarly journals Processing of novel food reveal payoff and rank-biased social learning in a wild primate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Canteloup ◽  
M.B. Cera ◽  
B.J. Barrett ◽  
E. van de Waal
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Diffusion Experiment ◽  
Vervet Monkeys ◽  
Cultural Complexity ◽  
Dynamic Learning ◽  
Novel Food ◽  
Bias Attention ◽  
Higher Rank ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

AbstractCultural complexity is strongly shaped by the efficiency by which new knowledge is propagated. Different social learning strategies (SLS), where individuals biasedly learn particular behaviors or from specific demonstrators, can contribute to an individual’s success. While SLS have been mostly studied in isolation, their interaction and the interplay between individual and social learning is less understood. We performed a field-based open diffusion experiment in a wild primate. We provided two groups of vervet monkeys with a novel food, unshelled peanuts, and documented how three different peanut opening techniques spread within the groups. We analyzed data using hierarchical Bayesian dynamic learning models that explore the integration of multiple SLS with individual learning. We show that vervets preferentially use the technique yielding the highest observed payoff, and also bias attention toward individuals of higher rank. This shows that traditions may arise when individuals integrate information about the efficiency of a behavior alongside cues related to the rank of a demonstrator.

scholarly journals Pay-off-biased social learning underlies the diffusion of novel extractive foraging traditions in a wild primate

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1856) ◽  
pp. 20170358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan J. Barrett ◽  
Richard L. McElreath ◽  
Susan E. Perry
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Important Variation ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Innovation And Diffusion

The type and variety of learning strategies used by individuals to acquire behaviours in the wild are poorly understood, despite the presence of behavioural traditions in diverse taxa. Social learning strategies such as conformity can be broadly adaptive, but may also retard the spread of adaptive innovations. Strategies like pay-off-biased learning, by contrast, are effective at diffusing new behaviour but may perform poorly when adaptive behaviour is common. We present a field experiment in a wild primate, Cebus capucinus , that introduced a novel food item and documented the innovation and diffusion of successful extraction techniques. We develop a multilevel, Bayesian statistical analysis that allows us to quantify individual-level evidence for different social and individual learning strategies. We find that pay-off-biased and age-biased social learning are primarily responsible for the diffusion of new techniques. We find no evidence of conformity; instead rare techniques receive slightly increased attention. We also find substantial and important variation in individual learning strategies that is patterned by age, with younger individuals being more influenced by both social information and their own individual experience. The aggregate cultural dynamics in turn depend upon the variation in learning strategies and the age structure of the wild population.

Strong conformity requires a greater proportion of asocial learning and achieves lower fitness than a payoff-based equivalent

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 323-333
Author(s):  
Matt Grove
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Heterogeneous Environments ◽  
The One ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

There is a growing interest in the relative benefits of the different social learning strategies used to transmit information between conspecifics and in the extent to which they require input from asocial learning. Two strategies in particular, conformist and payoff-based social learning, have been subject to considerable theoretical analysis, yet previous models have tended to examine their efficacy in relation to specific parameters or circumstances. This study employs individual-based simulations to derive the optimal proportion of individual learning that coexists with conformist and payoff-based strategies in populations experiencing wide-ranging variation in levels of environmental change, reproductive turnover, learning error and individual learning costs. Results demonstrate that conformity coexists with a greater proportion of asocial learning under all parameter combinations, and that payoff-based social learning is more adaptive in 97.43% of such combinations. These results are discussed in relation to the conjecture that the most successful social learning strategy will be the one that can persist with the lowest frequency of asocial learning, and the possibility that punishment of non-conformists may be required for conformity to confer adaptive benefits over payoff-based strategies in temporally heterogeneous environments.

scholarly journals PAYOFF-BIASED SOCIAL LEARNING UNDERLIES THE DIFFUSION OF NOVEL EXTRACTIVE FORAGING TRADITIONS IN A WILD PRIMATE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan J Barrett ◽  
Richard L McElreath ◽  
Susan E Perry
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Important Variation ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Innovation And Diffusion

AbstractThe type and variety of learning strategies used by individuals to acquire behaviours in the wild are poorly understood, despite the presence of behavioural traditions in diverse taxa. Social learning strategies such as conformity can be broadly adaptive, but may also retard the spread of adaptive innovations. Strategies like payoff-biased learning, in contrast, are effective at diffusing new behaviour but may perform poorly when adaptive behaviour is common. We present a field experiment in a wild primate,Cebus capucinus, that introduced a novel food item and documented the innovation and diffusion of successful extraction techniques. We develop a multilevel, Bayesian statistical analysis that allows us to quantify individual-level evidence for different social and individual learning strategies. We find that payoff-biased social learning and age-biased social learning are primarily responsible for the diffusion of new techniques. We find no evidence of conformity; instead rare techniques receive slightly increased attention. We also find substantial and important variation in individual learning strategies that is patterned by age, with younger individuals being more influenced by both social information and their own individual experience. The aggregate cultural dynamics in turn depend upon the variation in learning strategies and the age structure of the wild population.

NEW LEARNING STRATEGIES IN BUSTILLOS AND OLIVEIRA MODEL

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 1415-1427
Author(s):  
MINGFENG HE ◽  
XIAOWEN PAN ◽  
XIAOJIA MU ◽  
LIN FENG
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Capacity ◽  
New Learning ◽  
Penna Model ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Dependent Learning

Armando Ticona Bustillos and Paulo Murilo C. de Oliveira first combined learning strategy with Penna model using a third bit string to represent knowledge. There are two forms of learning strategy in their model: individual learning through trial-and-error and social learning through copying knowledge from others. Based on the Bustillos-Oliveira model, we propose a new learning strategy:. (1) Individual learning ability depending on knowledge, through which the individual learning ability is not a constant but in direct proportion to the knowledge level of individual;. (2) Double-direction Social learning, under this, not only the young can learn from the elder, but also the elder can learn from the young;. (3) The age-dependent learning capacity, we make the learning capacity a variable in inverse proportion to the age, unlike which has been represented in Bustillos and Oliveira's model as a constant. Under this new learning strategy represented above, we get different result in the level of knowledge of individuals from B-O model.

scholarly journals Social learning solves the problem of narrow-peaked search landscapes: experimental evidence in humans

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 160215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi ◽  
Claudio Tennie ◽  
Alex Mesoudi
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Hill Climbing ◽  
Adaptive Landscape ◽  
Search Spaces ◽  
Individual Trial ◽  
Ecological Success ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Learning From Others

The extensive use of social learning is considered a major reason for the ecological success of humans. Theoretical considerations, models and experiments have explored the evolutionary basis of social learning, showing the conditions under which learning from others is more adaptive than individual learning. Here we present an extension of a previous experimental set-up, in which individuals go on simulated ‘hunts’ and their success depends on the features of a ‘virtual arrowhead’ they design. Individuals can modify their arrowhead either by individual trial and error or by copying others. We study how, in a multimodal adaptive landscape, the smoothness of the peaks influences learning. We compare narrow peaks, in which solutions close to optima do not provide useful feedback to individuals, to wide peaks, where smooth landscapes allow an effective hill-climbing individual learning strategy. We show that individual learning is more difficult in narrow-peaked landscapes, but that social learners perform almost equally well in both narrow- and wide-peaked search spaces. There was a weak trend for more copying in the narrow than wide condition, although as in previous experiments social information was generally underutilized. Our results highlight the importance of tasks’ design space when studying the adaptiveness of high-fidelity social learning.

scholarly journals Experimental studies of modern human social and individual learning in an archaeological context: People behave adaptively, but within limits

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Mesoudi
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Adaptive Landscape ◽  
Adaptive Performance ◽  
Learning Abilities

It has been proposed that one reason for the success of Homo sapiens is our advanced learning abilities. Theoretical models suggest that complex cultural adaptations can arise from an optimal mix of (i) individual learning that is of sufficient accuracy plus (ii) social learning that is of sufficiently high fidelity and is payoff- biased. Here I review the findings of a series of experimental studies of human learning, designed to simulate the kind of technology-based tasks that our ancestors would have faced. Results of these studies support the predictions of the models, and show that contemporary humans’ learning strategies are broadly adaptive. Performance typically improved through effective individual learning and payoff-biased social learning. The latter crucially allowed participants to escape low-fitness locally optimal artifact designs and jump to higher-fitness designs, assuming a realistic multimodal adaptive landscape underlying artifact fitness. On the other hand, people also exhibited predictable flaws in their learning, such as the copying of neutral traits exhibited by successful models along with their functional traits (i.e. cultural hitchhiking), and an unwillingness to share information with others under certain circumstances.

scholarly journals Animal social learning: associations and adaptations

F1000Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon M. Reader
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Early Life Experience ◽  
Experiential Effects ◽  
Adaptive Specializations ◽  
Learning From Others ◽  
Powerful Process

Social learning, learning from others, is a powerful process known to impact the success and survival of humans and non-human animals alike. Yet we understand little about the neurocognitive and other processes that underpin social learning. Social learning has often been assumed to involve specialized, derived cognitive processes that evolve and develop independently from other processes. However, this assumption is increasingly questioned, and evidence from a variety of organisms demonstrates that current, recent, and early life experience all predict the reliance on social information and thus can potentially explain variation in social learning as a result of experiential effects rather than evolved differences. General associative learning processes, rather than adaptive specializations, may underpin much social learning, as well as social learning strategies. Uncovering these distinctions is important to a variety of fields, for example by widening current views of the possible breadth and adaptive flexibility of social learning. Nonetheless, just like adaptationist evolutionary explanations, associationist explanations for social learning cannot be assumed, and empirical work is required to uncover the mechanisms involved and their impact on the efficacy of social learning. This work is being done, but more is needed. Current evidence suggests that much social learning may be based on ‘ordinary’ processes but with extraordinary consequences.

scholarly journals Competition for resources can explain patterns of social and individual learning in nature

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1815) ◽  
pp. 20151405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Smolla ◽  
R. Tucker Gilman ◽  
Tobias Galla ◽  
Susanne Shultz
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Resource Quality ◽  
Individual Trial ◽  
Evolutionary Force ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Novel Model

In nature, animals often ignore socially available information despite the multiple theoretical benefits of social learning over individual trial-and-error learning. Using information filtered by others is quicker, more efficient and less risky than randomly sampling the environment. To explain the mix of social and individual learning used by animals in nature, most models penalize the quality of socially derived information as either out of date, of poor fidelity or costly to acquire. Competition for limited resources, a fundamental evolutionary force, provides a compelling, yet hitherto overlooked, explanation for the evolution of mixed-learning strategies. We present a novel model of social learning that incorporates competition and demonstrates that (i) social learning is favoured when competition is weak, but (ii) if competition is strong social learning is favoured only when resource quality is highly variable and there is low environmental turnover. The frequency of social learning in our model always evolves until it reduces the mean foraging success of the population. The results of our model are consistent with empirical studies showing that individuals rely less on social information where resources vary little in quality and where there is high within-patch competition. Our model provides a framework for understanding the evolution of social learning, a prerequisite for human cumulative culture.

Social Learning

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Hoppitt ◽  
Kevin N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Indispensable Tool ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

Many animals, including humans, acquire valuable skills and knowledge by copying others. Scientists refer to this as social learning. It is one of the most exciting and rapidly developing areas of behavioral research and sits at the interface of many academic disciplines, including biology, experimental psychology, economics, and cognitive neuroscience. This book provides a comprehensive, practical guide to the research methods of this important emerging field. It defines the mechanisms thought to underlie social learning and demonstrate how to distinguish them experimentally in the laboratory. It presents techniques for detecting and quantifying social learning in nature, including statistical modeling of the spatial distribution of behavior traits. It also describes the latest theory and empirical findings on social learning strategies, and introduces readers to mathematical methods and models used in the study of cultural evolution. This book is an indispensable tool for researchers and an essential primer for students.

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