scholarly journals Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9877 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Testing the individual and social learning abilities of task-naïve captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes sp.) in a nut-cracking task

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien Neadle ◽  
Elisa Bandini ◽  
Claudio Tennie
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Baseline Condition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Nut Cracking ◽  
The Individual

Nut-cracking is often cited as one of the most complex behaviours observed in wild chimpanzees. However, the cognitive mechanisms behind its acquisition are still debated. The current null hypothesis is that the form of nut-cracking behaviour relies on variants of social learning, with some researchers arguing, more precisely, that copying variants of social learning mechanisms are necessary. However, to date, very few experiments have directly investigated the potentially sufficient role of individual learning in explaining the behavioural form of nut-cracking. Despite this, the available data provides some evidence for the spontaneous acquisition of nut-cracking by chimpanzees; later group acquisition was then found to be at least facilitated by (unspecified) variants of social learning. The latter findings are in line with both suggested hypotheses, i.e., that copying social learning is required and that other (non-copying) social learning mechanisms are at play. Here we present the first study which focused (initially) on the role of individual learning for the acquisition of the nut-cracking behavioural form in chimpanzees. We tested task-naïve chimpanzees (N = 13) with an extended baseline condition to examine whether the behaviour would emerge spontaneously. After the baseline condition (which was unsuccessful), we tested for the role of social learning by providing social information in a step-wise fashion, culminating in a full action demonstration of nut-cracking by a human demonstrator (this last condition made it possible for the observers to copy all actions underlying the behaviour). Despite the opportunities to individually and/or socially learn nut-cracking, none of the chimpanzees tested here cracked nuts using tools in any of the conditions in our study; thus, providing no conclusive evidence for either competing hypothesis. We conclude that this failure was the product of an interplay of factors, including behavioural conservatism and the existence of a potential sensitive learning period for nut-cracking in chimpanzees. The possibility remains that nut-cracking is a behaviour that chimpanzees can individually learn. However, this behaviour might only be acquired when chimpanzees are still inside their sensitive learning period, and when ecological and developmental conditions allow for it. The possibility remains that nut-cracking is an example of a culture dependent trait in non-human great apes. Recommendations for future research projects to address this question are considered.

scholarly journals Naive, captive long-tailed macaques ( Macaca fascicularis fascicularis ) fail to individually and socially learn pound-hammering, a tool-use behaviour

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 171826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Bandini ◽  
Claudio Tennie
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Macaca Fascicularis ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Specific Technique ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
The Individual

A subspecies of long-tailed macaques ( Macaca fascicularis aurea; Mfa ) has been reported to use stone tools and a specific technique to process nuts in Southeast Asia, a behaviour known as ‘pound-hammering’. The aim of this study was to examine the development of pound-hammering in long-tailed macaques: whether this behavioural form can be individually learnt or whether it has to rely on some forms of social learning. Given the absence of Mfa from captivity, long-tailed macaques of a highly related subspecies ( Macaca fascicularis fascicularis; Mff ) were experimentally tested by providing them with the ecological materials necessary to show pound-hammering. A baseline was first carried out to observe whether pound-hammering would emerge spontaneously without social information. As this was not the case, different degrees of social information, culminating in a full demonstration of the behaviour, were provided. None of the subjects ( n  = 31) showed pound-hammering in any of the individual or social learning conditions. Although these data do not support the hypothesis that individual learning underlies this behaviour, no evidence was found that (at least) Mff learn pound-hammering socially either. We propose that other—potentially interacting—factors may determine whether this behaviour emerges in the various subspecies of long-tailed macaques, and provide a novel methodology to test the role of social and individual learning in the development of animal tool-use.

scholarly journals Effort investment in uncontrollable situations: The moderating role of motivation toward closure

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-196
Author(s):  
Paulina Szwed ◽  
Małgorzata Kossowska ◽  
Marcin Bukowski
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Need For Closure ◽  
Extra Effort ◽  
Moderating Role ◽  
Energy Conservation Principle ◽  
Principle Of Energy Conservation ◽  
Investment Behaviour

AbstractAccording to the principle of energy-conservation principle, effort investment is usually reduced in situations that are perceived as uncontrollable. This is because when success is recognized as impossible, any effortful actions are no longer justified. However, we predicted that individual differences in uncertainty tolerance, i.e., the need for closure (NFC), may moderate effort investment in uncontrollable situations. We tested this prediction in two experimental studies in which we exposed participants with differing levels of NFC to uncontrollable events, and indexed effort through the assessment of systolic blood pressure (SBP) responses. As predicted, in the uncontrollability (vs. controllability) condition, effort investment decreased significantly among low- but not high-NFC participants. Since gaining certainty and achieving closure is not a critical epistemic goal for low-NFC individuals, exerting extra effort to gain certainty is therefore no longer justified. On the other hand, high-NFC participants do not withhold their efforts, as they are highly motivated to obtain certainty. These results may help to account for contradictory findings in effort-investment behaviour and add substantively to the literature concerning motivation toward closure.

Individual and Community: The Changing Role of Megaliths in the Orcadian Neolithic

1985 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall Sharples
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Significant Problem ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Size Type ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Changing Role

This paper is an exploration of the chronological development of a series of elaborate and architecturally distinctive chambered tombs on the Islands of Orkney. It begins with a short critique of the present views of the Orcadian Neolithic and highlights a failure to understand chronological developments as the most significant problem. Thus after a brief classification of the monuments there is a detailed discussion of the chronological evidence which consciously avoids typological assumptions. This is followed by an examination of the various uses the tombs were put to and involves an assessment of the location and architectural visibility of the monuments and the remains found in the chamber. When combined with the chronological evidence a series of changes in monument size, type, location and use can be hypothesized for the neolithic period. This culminates in a shift away from burial monuments to physically defined spaces, presumably used for ceremonial purposes. These changes can be interpreted as deliberate manipulation by groups within that society to change the ideological concepts which defined the role of the individual in relation to the other members of the society.

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.

Role of Sex in Externally Motivated Self-Touching Gestures

2002 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Heaven ◽  
Dan McBrayer ◽  
Bob Prince
Keyword(s):  
Stimulus Type ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Discourse Type ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Order Of Presentation ◽  
Do So

Self-touching gestures can be externally induced by the verbal presentation of anxiety-inducing stimuli and the active discussion of a passage. The frequency of these self-touching gestures appears to be affected by the individual interacting with the topic, the type of discourse (listening or discussing), the type of stimulus (canaries or leeches), and the interaction between the types of discourse and stimulus. This study assessed these variables as well as the sex of the participant and the order of presentation of stimulus type, neither of which were statistically significant. Participants were read two passages, one about a topic (leeches) expected to produce anxiety and the other about a topic (canaries) not expected to do so, and asked to answer questions about the passages. The number of self-touches was counted by an observer in another room. Each participant had both types of discourse (listening and discussing) and both types of stimulus (canaries and leeches). There was no significant difference between the number of self-touches by participants with either the male or female reader. Discussion as a method of discourse was associated with a significantly greater number of self-touches than listening. The interaction between discourse type and stimulus type was also significant. The combination of the anxiety producing stimulus and the active discourse (discussion) produced the highest average number of self-touches.

thymos

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Cairns
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Psychological Process ◽  
Mental Functioning ◽  
Fundamental Point ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Psychological Activity ◽  
Different Order ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Point Of Reference

Thymos (or thumos), cognate with Indo-European words meaning “smoke,” is one of a number of terms in Greek which associate psychological activity with air and breath. In the Homeric poems, thymos is one of a family of terms associated with internal psychological process of thought, emotion, volition, and motivation. Though the range of the term’s applications in Homer is wide, that in itself gives us a sense of the unity of cognitive, affective, and desiderative processes in Homeric psychology. No post-Homeric author can rival that range, but something of the richness of the Homeric conception of thymos as an interrelated set of motivations re-emerges in Plato’s conception of the tripartite soul in the Republic and the Phaedrus. Plato’s thymos represents a pared-down model of human agency typified by one central desire or aim in life but also exhibiting whatever further capacities of persons are necessary to enable it to pursue that aim in interaction with the other elements of the personality. As in Homer, the metaphorical agency of Plato’s thymos does not detract from the notion of the individual as the real centre of agency. Plato’s conception of thymos, in turn, is a fundamental point of reference for Aristotle’s treatment of thymos as a type of desire (orexis). Though Aristotle tends more generally to use the term as a synonym for orgē (anger), there are also traces of older associations between thymos and qualities such as assertiveness and goodwill towards others. Elsewhere, thymos tends to mean “heart” or “mind” (as aspects of mental functioning), “spirit,” “inclination,” or “anger.” A selection of these uses is surveyed, but the article overall concentrates on Homer, Plato, and Aristotle, where the role of thymos is of a different order of importance.

Religion and Constitutional Practices in Asia: Five ‘Cs’ for Reflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-225
Author(s):  
Arif A JAMAL
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Short Commentary ◽  
Five Cs ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

AbstractIn considering the articles in this Special Issue, I am struck by the importance of a set of factors that, in my view, both run through the articles like a leitmotif, as well as shape the major ‘take away’ lesson(s) from the articles. In this short commentary, I elaborate on these factors and the lesson(s) to take from them through five ‘Cs’: context; complexity; contestation; the framework of constitutions; and the role of comparative law. The first three ‘Cs’ are lessons from the case studies of the articles themselves, while the second two ‘Cs’ are offered as lessons to help take the dialogue forward. Fundamentally, these five ‘Cs’ highlight the importance of the articles in this Special Issue and the conference from which they emerged on the one hand, while on the other hand, also making us aware of what are the limits of what we should conclude from the individual articles. In other words, taken together, the five ‘Cs’ are, one might say, lessons about lessons.

Understanding Individual Learning for Organizational Learning

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (15) ◽  
pp. 791-795
Author(s):  
Rajendra Paul
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Cognitive Learning ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Abstract Concept ◽  
Feedback Environment ◽  
Extrinsic Factors ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Intrinsic And Extrinsic Factors

Suitable application of the knowledge about individual learning to develop organizational learning processes is the focus and scope of this paper. Organization is an abstract concept. Consequently, organizational learning depends to a large extent on the learning by individual employees. Cognitive learning is treated in greater detail than physical learning, although the two often occur and are treated simultaneously. The attributes of the individual learning process discussed here include intrinsic and extrinsic factors like motivation, feedback, environment, social influences, and role of emotions.

The Role of Narcissism in Group Psychotherapy

2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Battegay
Keyword(s):  
Group Psychotherapy ◽  
Group Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Five Phases

This article analyzes five phases in the group process in which narcissism may, also on an archaic basis, be seen to be present, and its effect both on the individuals and the group process, as well as towards the conductor. The author also refers to the tasks of the therapist in respect of this narcissism, as it affects the individual, the other group members, and the group-as-a-whole.

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