Adaptive strategies for cumulative cultural learning

Ehn, Micael; Laland, Kevin N.

doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2012.02.004

Cited by 34 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Optimisation of receiver behaviour, due to understanding of own knowledge state. In much the same way that metacognitive awareness is assumed to facilitate academic performance (Dunlosky and Metcalfe, 2009) it is possible that it could similarly enable cumulative culture for reasons that are not inherently linked to how an agent understands or interacts with others. Awareness of one's own knowledge state would allow learners to seek out new information when necessary, and recognise when updating their knowledge might be beneficial.…”

Section: Explicit Metacognition As a Uniquely Human Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative culture and explicit metacognition: a review of theories, evidence and key predictions

Dunstone

Caldwell

2018

Palgrave Commun

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A variety of different proposals have attempted to explain the apparent uniqueness of human cumulative culture as a consequence of underlying mechanisms that are also assumed to be uniquely well-developed in humans. Recently, Heyes and colleagues have proposed explicit (or Type 2) metacognition as a key feature of human cognition that might enable cumulative culture. In the current review we examine these arguments, and consider their plausibility. Firstly we consider whether distinctions between cognitive processes described as explicit/implicit, and Type 1/2 (or Systems 1/2), do indeed capture features that distinguish processes specific to human cognition, versus those that are shared with other species. In particular we consider whether this applies to distinctions relating to metacognitive processes. We also consider the ways in which explicit metacognitive processing might plausibly facilitate cumulative culture. We categorise the potential benefits as either optimising receiver behaviour, or optimising sender behaviour. Within both of these categories benefits could arise as a consequence of more effective representation of either one's own knowledge state, or that of others. We evaluate the current state of evidence supporting each of these potential benefits. We conclude by proposing methodological approaches that could be used to directly test the theory, and also identify which (if any) of the possible causal mechanisms may be implicated.

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Section: Explicit Metacognition As a Uniquely Human Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative culture and explicit metacognition: a review of theories, evidence and key predictions

Dunstone

Caldwell

2018

Palgrave Commun

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“…Mathematical models have also suggested that selective copying of successful behaviours or successful individuals, when coupled with the opportunity to learn asocially, can strongly affect cumulative cultural evolution (Ehn & Laland, ). Ehn & Laland () propose an ‘individual refiner’ strategy, which first uses social learning, and then refines through individual learning, and continues to do so irrespective of the level achieved. This strategy generates high fitness across a broad range of conditions, leads to high amounts of socially transmitted behaviour in the population, and accumulates significantly more innovations over the generations than other strategies.…”

Section: Why Are There Differences In Cumulative Culture Between Humamentioning

confidence: 99%

Human cumulative culture: a comparative perspective

et al. 2013

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Many animals exhibit social learning and behavioural traditions, but human culture exhibits unparalleled complexity and diversity, and is unambiguously cumulative in character. These similarities and differences have spawned a debate over whether animal traditions and human culture are reliant on homologous or analogous psychological processes. Human cumulative culture combines high‐fidelity transmission of cultural knowledge with beneficial modifications to generate a ‘ratcheting’ in technological complexity, leading to the development of traits far more complex than one individual could invent alone. Claims have been made for cumulative culture in several species of animals, including chimpanzees, orangutans and New Caledonian crows, but these remain contentious. Whilst initial work on the topic of cumulative culture was largely theoretical, employing mathematical methods developed by population biologists, in recent years researchers from a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, biology, economics, biological anthropology, linguistics and archaeology, have turned their attention to the experimental investigation of cumulative culture. We review this literature, highlighting advances made in understanding the underlying processes of cumulative culture and emphasising areas of agreement and disagreement amongst investigators in separate fields.

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“…less adaptive for populations with innovation fixed at low or medium levels. Thus, innovation is an essential ingredient for prosocial traits to develop, as has been shown in previous work on cultural transmission through iterative cycles of imitation and innovation (Ehn & Laland, 2012;Wisdom & Goldstone, 2011;Derex, Feron, Godelle, & Raymond, 2015).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

The Evolutionary Dynamics of Cooperation in Collective Search

Tump

Bouhlel

et al. 2019

Preprint

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How does cooperation arise in an evolutionary context? We approach this problem using a collective search paradigm where interactions are dynamic and there is competition for rewards. Using evolutionary simulations, we find that the unconditional sharing of information can be an evolutionary advantageous strategy without the need for conditional strategies or explicit reciprocation. Shared information acts as a recruitment signal and facilitates the formation of a self-organized group. Thus, the improved search efficiency of the collective bestows byproduct benefits onto the original sharer. A key mechanism is a visibility radius, where individuals have unconditional access to information about neighbors within a limited distance. Our results show that for a variety of initial conditions-including populations initially devoid of prosocial individuals-and across both static and dynamic fitness landscapes, we find strong selection pressure to evolve unconditional sharing.

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Adaptive strategies for cumulative cultural learning

Cited by 34 publications

References 18 publications

Cumulative culture and explicit metacognition: a review of theories, evidence and key predictions

Cumulative culture and explicit metacognition: a review of theories, evidence and key predictions

Human cumulative culture: a comparative perspective

The Evolutionary Dynamics of Cooperation in Collective Search

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