scholarly journals Infectious disease, behavioural flexibility and the evolution of culture in primates

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1799) ◽  
pp. 20140862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collin M. McCabe ◽  
Simon M. Reader ◽  
Charles L. Nunn
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Sampling Effort ◽  
Significant Cost ◽  
Extractive Foraging ◽  
Contagious Diseases ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
Mass Group

Culturally transmitted traits are observed in a wide array of animal species, yet we understand little about the costs of the behavioural patterns that underlie culture, such as innovation and social learning. We propose that infectious diseases are a significant cost associated with cultural transmission. We investigated two hypotheses that may explain such a connection: that social learning and exploratory behaviours (specifically, innovation and extractive foraging) either compensate for existing infection or increase exposure to infectious agents. We used Bayesian comparative methods, controlling for sampling effort, body mass, group size, geographical range size, terrestriality, latitude and phylogenetic uncertainty. Across 127 primate species, we found a positive association between pathogen richness and rates of innovation, extractive foraging and social learning. This relationship was driven by two independent phenomena: socially contagious diseases were positively associated with rates of social learning, and environmentally transmitted diseases were positively associated with rates of exploration. Because higher pathogen burdens can contribute to morbidity and mortality, we propose that parasitism is a significant cost associated with the behavioural patterns that underpin culture, and that increased pathogen exposure is likely to have played an important role in the evolution of culture in both non-human primates and humans.

scholarly journals Experimental studies illuminate the cultural transmission of percussive technologies in Homo and Pan

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1682) ◽  
pp. 20140359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Whiten
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Cognitive Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
Special Power ◽  
Social Learning Processes

The complexity of Stone Age tool-making is assumed to have relied upon cultural transmission, but direct evidence is lacking. This paper reviews evidence bearing on this question provided through five related empirical perspectives. Controlled experimental studies offer special power in identifying and dissecting social learning into its diverse component forms, such as imitation and emulation. The first approach focuses on experimental studies that have discriminated social learning processes in nut-cracking by chimpanzees. Second come experiments that have identified and dissected the processes of cultural transmission involved in a variety of other force-based forms of chimpanzee tool use. A third perspective is provided by field studies that have revealed a range of forms of forceful, targeted tool use by chimpanzees, that set percussion in its broader cognitive context. Fourth are experimental studies of the development of flint knapping to make functional sharp flakes by bonobos, implicating and defining the social learning and innovation involved. Finally, new and substantial experiments compare what different social learning processes, from observational learning to teaching, afford good quality human flake and biface manufacture. Together these complementary approaches begin to delineate the social learning processes necessary to percussive technologies within the Pan – Homo clade.

scholarly journals Testing differential use of payoff-biased social learning strategies in children and chimpanzees

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1868) ◽  
pp. 20171751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian L. Vale ◽  
Emma G. Flynn ◽  
Jeremy Kendal ◽  
Bruce Rawlings ◽  
Lydia M. Hopper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Beneficial Traits ◽  
Children’S Behaviour ◽  
Social Exposure ◽  
Reward Information ◽  
Social Learning Strategies ◽  
Exchange Behaviour

Various non-human animal species have been shown to exhibit behavioural traditions. Importantly, this research has been guided by what we know of human culture, and the question of whether animal cultures may be homologous or analogous to our own culture. In this paper, we assess whether models of human cultural transmission are relevant to understanding biological fundamentals by investigating whether accounts of human payoff-biased social learning are relevant to chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ). We submitted 4- and 5-year-old children ( N = 90) and captive chimpanzees ( N = 69) to a token–reward exchange task. The results revealed different forms of payoff-biased learning across species and contexts. Specifically, following personal and social exposure to different tokens, children's exchange behaviour was consistent with proportional imitation, where choice is affected by both prior personally acquired and socially demonstrated token–reward information. However, when the socially derived information regarding token value was novel, children's behaviour was consistent with proportional observation; paying attention to socially derived information and ignoring their prior personal experience. By contrast, chimpanzees' token choice was governed by their own prior experience only, with no effect of social demonstration on token choice, conforming to proportional reservation. We also find evidence for individual- and group-level differences in behaviour in both species. Despite the difference in payoff strategies used, both chimpanzees and children adopted beneficial traits when available. However, the strategies of the children are expected to be the most beneficial in promoting flexible behaviour by enabling existing behaviours to be updated or replaced with new and often superior ones.

Modeling Social Learning and Culture

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Hoppitt ◽  
Kevin N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Reaction Diffusion ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Mathematical Expressions ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Neutral Models

This chapter describes a variety of approaches to modeling social learning, cultural evolution, and gene-culture coevolution. The model-building exercise typically starts with a set of assumptions about the key processes to be explored, along with the nature of their relations. These assumptions are then translated into the mathematical expressions that constitute the model. The operation of the model is then investigated, normally using a combination of analytical mathematical techniques and simulation, to determine relevant outcomes, such as the equilibrium states or patterns of change over time. The chapter presents examples of the modeling of cultural transmission and considers parallels between cultural and biological evolution. It then discusses theoretical approaches to social learning and cultural evolution, including population-genetic style models of cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution, neutral models and random copying, social foraging theory, spatially explicit models, reaction-diffusion models, agent-based models, and phylogenetic models.

scholarly journals Activity budget and behavioural patterns of free-ranging yellow-tailed woolly monkeys Oreonax flavicauda (Mammalia: Primates), at La Esperanza, northeastern Peru

2011 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Shanee ◽  
Noga Shanee
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Woolly Monkey ◽  
Woolly Monkeys ◽  
Focal Animal ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
The Village

The critically endangered yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda) is endemic to the cloud forests of north-eastern Peru and one of the least studied of all primate species. We conducted fifteen months of group follows using focal animal sampling techniques to gather the first behavioural data on free ranging O. flavicauda. Group follows took place in an area of disturbed primary and regenerating secondary forest near the village of La Esperanza, Amazonas department. Yellow-tailed woolly monkey activity budgets at La Esperanza average: 29.8% feeding, 26.3% resting, 29.0% travelling, 2.3% in social and 12.8% in other activities. Significant differences were observed in the frequency of behaviours between age/sex classes as well as on temporal scales. Our findings are similar to those of other woolly monkey species although yellow-tailed woolly monkeys were found to be more vocally active then other species. We recommend further study of this species at other sites with different forest types to better understand its behavioural ecology and conservation needs. Particular emphasis should be given to studying this species at different altitudes.

When does cultural transmission favour or instead substitute for general intelligence?

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Whiten
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cultural Intelligence ◽  
General Intelligence ◽  
New Development ◽  
Individual Cognition

AbstractThe cultural intelligence hypothesis is an exciting new development. The hypothesis that it encourages general intelligence is intriguing, but it presents a paradox insofar as social learning is often suggested to instead reduce reliance on individual cognition and exploration. There is thus a need to specify more clearly the contexts in which cultural transmission may select for general intelligence.

scholarly journals Behavioural variation in 172 small-scale societies indicates that social learning is the main mode of human adaptation

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1810) ◽  
pp. 20150061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Mathew ◽  
Charles Perreault
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Causal Reasoning ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Human Adaptation ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Main Mode

The behavioural variation among human societies is vast and unmatched in the animal world. It is unclear whether this variation is due to variation in the ecological environment or to differences in cultural traditions. Underlying this debate is a more fundamental question: is the richness of humans’ behavioural repertoire due to non-cultural mechanisms, such as causal reasoning, inventiveness, reaction norms, trial-and-error learning and evoked culture, or is it due to the population-level dynamics of cultural transmission? Here, we measure the relative contribution of environment and cultural history in explaining the behavioural variation of 172 Native American tribes at the time of European contact. We find that the effect of cultural history is typically larger than that of environment. Behaviours also persist over millennia within cultural lineages. This indicates that human behaviour is not predominantly determined by single-generation adaptive responses, contra theories that emphasize non-cultural mechanisms as determinants of human behaviour. Rather, the main mode of human adaptation is social learning mechanisms that operate over multiple generations.

scholarly journals Innovation and social learning: individual variation and brain evolution

2003 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Reader
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Cognitive Correlates ◽  
Interspecific Differences ◽  
Innovation Rate ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

Abstract This paper reviews behavioural, neurological and cognitive correlates of innovation at the individual, population and species level, focusing on birds and primates. Innovation, new or modified learned behaviour not previously found in the population, is the first stage in many instances of cultural transmission and may play an important role in the lives of animals with generalist or opportunistic lifestyles. Within-species, innovation is associated with low neophobia, high neophilia, and with high social learning propensities. Indices of innovatory propensities can be calculated for taxonomic groups by counting the frequency of reports of innovation in published literature. These innovation rate data provide a useful comparative measure for studies of behavioural flexibility and cognition. Innovation rate is positively correlated with the relative size of association areas in the brain, namely the hyperstriatum ventrale and neostriatum in birds, and the neocortex and striatum in primates. Innovation rate is also positively correlated with the reported variety of tool use, as well as interspecific differences in learning. Current evidence thus suggests similar patterns of cognitive evolution in primates and birds.

scholarly journals Cultura, adaptación y ciencias sociales: una aproximación naturalista

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laureano Castro ◽  
Luis Castro ◽  
Miguel Á. Castro ◽  
Miguel Á. Toro
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Inheritance System

RESUMENEn la primera parte de este artículo defendemos que la evolución de la cultura en nuestra especie es consecuencia de una naturaleza humana esencialmente valorativa, la naturaleza de Homo suadens. La propuesta considera que nuestros antepasados homínidos dotados de la capacidad de aprobar y reprobar la conducta ajena desarrollaron un sistema de transmisión cultural assessor entre padres e hijos, el cual transformó el aprendizaje social en un sistema de herencia acumulativo. En la segunda parte, defendemos, desde nuestra condición de Homo suadens, la necesidad de reconceptualizar algunos de los problemas presentes en el núcleo teórico de las ciencias sociales.PALABRAS CLAVEAPRENDIZAJE SOCIAL, EVOLUCIÓN CULTURAL, TRANSMISIÓN ASSESSOR, HOMO SUADENSABSTRACTIn this paper, first we argue that the evolution of culture in our species is the result of an essentially evaluative human nature, the nature of Homo suadens. The proposal considers that our hominid ancestors endowed with the ability to approve or disapprove of the conduct of others developed a system of assessor cultural transmission between parents and children, who transformed social learning into a cumulative inheritance system. Second, we defend, from our Homo suadens condition, the need to reconceptualise some of the problems lying at the theoretical core of social sciences.KEY WORDSSOCIAL LEARNING, CULTURAL EVOLUTION, ASSESSOR TRANSMISSION, HOMO SUADENS

scholarly journals Evolution of social learning in lattice-structured populations

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohei Tamura ◽  
Yasuo Ihara
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Spatial Structure ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Structured Populations ◽  
Computational Experiments ◽  
Parameter Region ◽  
Active Debate

Individual and social learning underpin human cultural diversity and successful expansion into diverse environments. The evolution of social learning has been a subject of active debate: in particular, recent studies considering whether spatial structure favors or disfavors the evolution of social learning have produced mixed results. Here we report the results of our computational experiments in lattice-structured populations, suggesting that spatial structure disfavors the evolution of social learning in a wide parameter region. Our results also indicate that the effect of spatial structure depends on the mode of cultural transmission (from whom social learners acquire behaviors) and the updating scheme (whether individuals update their strategies synchronously or asynchronously).

scholarly journals Multi-network-based diffusion analysis reveals vertical cultural transmission of sponge tool use within dolphin matrilines

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 20190227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Wild ◽  
Simon J. Allen ◽  
Michael Krützen ◽  
Stephanie L. King ◽  
Livia Gerber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Shark Bay ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Diffusion Analysis ◽  
Learning Ecology ◽  
First Time

Behavioural differences among social groups can arise from differing ecological conditions, genetic predispositions and/or social learning. In the past, social learning has typically been inferred as responsible for the spread of behaviour by the exclusion of ecological and genetic factors. This ‘method of exclusion’ was used to infer that ‘sponging’, a foraging behaviour involving tool use in the bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops aduncus ) population in Shark Bay, Western Australia, was socially transmitted. However, previous studies were limited in that they never fully accounted for alternative factors, and that social learning, ecology and genetics are not mutually exclusive in causing behavioural variation. Here, we quantified the importance of social learning on the diffusion of sponging, for the first time explicitly accounting for ecological and genetic factors, using a multi-network version of ‘network-based diffusion analysis'. Our results provide compelling support for previous findings that sponging is vertically socially transmitted from mother to (primarily female) offspring. This research illustrates the utility of social network analysis in elucidating the explanatory mechanisms behind the transmission of behaviour in wild animal populations.

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