scholarly journals Evidence of model based transmission bias in captive chimpanzees: initial tool choice matches proficient groupmate

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara A Wood ◽  
Rachel L Kendal ◽  
Lydia M Hopper ◽  
Susan P Lambeth ◽  
Steven J Schapiro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Stimulus Enhancement ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The One ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

Social learning theories predict biased transmission dictating what and whom is copied. We presented a novel tool-use task to six groups of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to investigate a model proficiency bias. The study included six groups totalling 54 chimpanzees (24 males) housed in six social groups at the KCCMR, University of Texas, U.S.A. Subjects were aged 12- to 43-years-old (M = 24.5 years, SD = 7). In each of four groups (N = 33, Males = 18), two models were trained to use one of two visually and functionally different ‘hook’ and ‘spoon’ tools to obtain baskets containing food that were otherwise out-of-reach. Once trained, the models demonstrated their tool-use in the presence of the group. The two models differed in their novel-task-solving proficiency as ascertained by prior interactions with novel tasks (also observed by group members) and caregiver ratings of each chimpanzee’s general proficiency. Two groups of ‘control’ chimpanzees (N = 21) had no prior information regarding the task and saw no conspecific demonstrations. Within the experimental groups, significantly more chimpanzees touched the tool used by the ‘high proficiency’ model than the one used by the ‘low proficiency’ model (p < 0.001), demonstrating some degree of model-based social learning bias. The tool used in observing chimpanzees’ first attempts and first successes, however, did not differ as a function of which model used the tool. This was likely because the task could be easily learned asocially. We propose that the chimpanzees’ tool-use behaviour was guided by biased stimulus enhancement alongside asocial learning. As with humans, chimpanzees demonstrate an ability to discern the most proficient model but also show the flexibility to asocially acquire multiple successful methods. Thus, chimpanzees and humans both demonstrate adaptive social learning strategies dictating when and whom they copy.

scholarly journals Evidence of model based transmission bias in captive chimpanzees: initial tool choice matches proficient groupmate

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara A Wood ◽  
Rachel L Kendal ◽  
Lydia M Hopper ◽  
Susan P Lambeth ◽  
Steven J Schapiro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Stimulus Enhancement ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The One ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

Social learning theories predict biased transmission dictating what and whom is copied. We presented a novel tool-use task to six groups of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to investigate a model proficiency bias. The study included six groups totalling 54 chimpanzees (24 males) housed in six social groups at the KCCMR, University of Texas, U.S.A. Subjects were aged 12- to 43-years-old (M = 24.5 years, SD = 7). In each of four groups (N = 33, Males = 18), two models were trained to use one of two visually and functionally different ‘hook’ and ‘spoon’ tools to obtain baskets containing food that were otherwise out-of-reach. Once trained, the models demonstrated their tool-use in the presence of the group. The two models differed in their novel-task-solving proficiency as ascertained by prior interactions with novel tasks (also observed by group members) and caregiver ratings of each chimpanzee’s general proficiency. Two groups of ‘control’ chimpanzees (N = 21) had no prior information regarding the task and saw no conspecific demonstrations. Within the experimental groups, significantly more chimpanzees touched the tool used by the ‘high proficiency’ model than the one used by the ‘low proficiency’ model (p < 0.001), demonstrating some degree of model-based social learning bias. The tool used in observing chimpanzees’ first attempts and first successes, however, did not differ as a function of which model used the tool. This was likely because the task could be easily learned asocially. We propose that the chimpanzees’ tool-use behaviour was guided by biased stimulus enhancement alongside asocial learning. As with humans, chimpanzees demonstrate an ability to discern the most proficient model but also show the flexibility to asocially acquire multiple successful methods. Thus, chimpanzees and humans both demonstrate adaptive social learning strategies dictating when and whom they copy.

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 Uses of Common Tools: Is Affordance a Base?

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kavita ◽  
Rajbir Singh
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Human History ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

A tool is a device that is used to achieve a task, but not consumed in the process. When in use, a tool works as a part of the user’s own body not the environment. The most important point of evolution in human history was development and use of tools. The first tool was made out of stone. Thus, historians refer to the period of time before written history as Stone Age. A study is planned in which the objectives were to know the commonly available and useable tools in present day semi-urban environment, enlisting frequently used tools and their uses, categorizing the uses in terms of commonness- uniqueness and identifying the affordance in their tool. To achieve these objectives 70 samples were taken from age groups of 21-35, 36-50 and 51-65. Findings reveals 142 common human used tools, on the basis of frequency tools were divided in four categories. In these categories second and unique uses were also found. It was found that affordances enhances the efficiency of less precise, less costly, forms of social learning strategies in the acquisition of novel tool use.

scholarly journals Neophobia and social facilitation in narrow-striped mongooses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bako N. Rasolofoniaina ◽  
Peter M. Kappeler ◽  
Claudia Fichtel
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Social Facilitation ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Wild Female ◽  
Stimulus Enhancement ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

Abstract Social learning is widespread in the animal kingdom, but individuals can differ in how they acquire and use social information. Personality traits, such as neophobia, may, for example, promote individual learning strategies. Here, we contribute comparative data on social learning strategies in carnivorans by examining whether narrow-striped mongooses (Mungotictis decemlineata), a group-living Malagasy euplerid, learn socially and whether neophobia influences social learning. To this end, we tested seven wild female groups with a two-option artificial feeding box, using a demonstrator–observer paradigm, and conducted novel object tests to assess neophobia. In five groups, one individual was trained as a demonstrator displaying one of the techniques, whereas the other two groups served as control groups. Neophobia did not co-vary with an individual’s propensity to seek social information. However, less neophobic individuals, and individuals that tended to seek social information, learned the task faster. Moreover, individuals in demonstrator groups learned the task faster than those in groups without a demonstrator and used the demonstrated technique more often. Hence, narrow-striped mongooses rely on social facilitation and local or stimulus enhancement to solve new problems. Finally, our results suggest that several individual characteristics should be taken into consideration to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of social learning strategies.

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.

scholarly journals Social learning strategies regulate the wisdom and madness of interactive crowds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wataru Toyokawa ◽  
Andrew Whalen ◽  
Kevin N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Collective Intelligence ◽  
Collective Wisdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
Challenging Tasks ◽  
Task Uncertainty ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

AbstractWhy groups of individuals sometimes exhibit collective ‘wisdom’ and other times maladaptive ‘herding’ is an enduring conundrum. Here we show that this apparent conflict is regulated by the social learning strategies deployed. We examined the patterns of human social learning through an interactive online experiment with 699 participants, varying both task uncertainty and group size, then used hierarchical Bayesian model-ftting to identify the individual learning strategies exhibited by participants. Challenging tasks elicit greater conformity amongst individuals, with rates of copying increasing with group size, leading to high probabilities of herding amongst large groups confronted with uncertainty. Conversely, the reduced social learning of small groups, and the greater probability that social information would be accurate for less-challenging tasks, generated ‘wisdom of the crowd’ effects in other circumstances. Our model-based approach provides evidence that the likelihood of collective intelligence versus herding can be predicted, resolving a longstanding puzzle in the literature.

scholarly journals Social learning strategies

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

Cognitive culture: theoretical and empirical insights into social learning strategies

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Rendell ◽  
Laurel Fogarty ◽  
William J.E. Hoppitt ◽  
Thomas J.H. Morgan ◽  
Mike M. Webster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

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.

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