Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution

Abstract

One contribution of 16 to a theme issue 'Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution'. Within the blink of an eye on a geological timescale, humans advanced from using basic stone tools to examining the rocks on Mars; however, our exact evolutionary path and the relative importance of genetic and cultural evolution in directing it remain a mystery. Our cultural capacities-to generate new ideas, to communicate and learn from one another, and to form vast social networks-together make us uniquely human, but the origins, the mechanisms and the evolutionary impact of these capacities are not well understood.This special issue comprises studies that bring together perspectives from anthropology, archaeology, biology, computer science, ecology and psychology to help elucidate the cultural forces affecting human evolution. These studies explore avenues in which approaches and insights from different fields may inform one another or be brought together to generate novel interdisciplinary research agendas, with the goal of advancing the study of human uniqueness and its pre-hominid origins. The aim of this issue is to advance interdisciplinary discussion of the roles that culture plays in shaping the course of human evolution, exploring the mechanisms of cultural evolution from their cognitive underpinnings in individuals, through the behavioural ecology of learning from others, to the dynamics of transmission at the level of individuals and populations. The articles in this issue bring insights from disparate disciplines to bear on major questions in cultural evolution [1-11] and suggest broad-scale ways in which the study of cultural evolution can be synthesized with other disciplines [12][13][14].In the introduction to this issue [15], we outline how integrative studies are poised to move the field of cultural evolution forward; we demonstrate the utility of this approach by reviewing a number of interdisciplinary studies in cultural evolution and related fields that encompass behavioural ecology, population dynamics, cognition and genetics. Next, in the special issue's first article, Truskanov & Prat [1] bring insights from the behavioural ecology of social learning in non-human animals to bear on the underlying mechanisms of cultural transmission. They address the widespread misconception that high fidelity of transmission depends on precise copying of cultural information and suggest the opposite: fidelity of transmission might depend on inexact copying, coupled with trial-and-error exploration, which together allow flexibility in applying a learned behaviour and tailoring it to the current environment. Stressing the importance of mechanisms of social learning in a broader perspective, Heyes [12] proposes that insights from the cognitive sciences must inform cultural evolution and vice versa: the two fields need one another. Applying this approach to a topic at the heart of cultural evolution, she outlines the possible cognitive processes that may underlie cultural transmission, as...

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“…In addition, it would be interesting to assess the degree to which tools themselves become specialized in populations divided into specialized guilds [57]. To this end, interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of theory and empirical research on this topic are particularly important [58][59][60][61].…”

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“…Acerbi, 2019;Henrich, 2015;Heyes, 2018;Laland, 2017;Mesoudi, 2011) and themed journal issues (e.g. Gelfand and Kashima, 2015;Kolodny et al, 2018;Whiten et al, 2017Whiten et al, , 2011. Moreover, recent research articles show that the study of cultural transmission is not only relevant for understanding what shaped human origins, but also to make sense of what is happening in the present, from the spread of news on social media (Weng et al, 2013) to healthy behaviour in social networks (Centola, 2010), and many other features of the 'information age'.…”

“…[1,11,[29][30][31]) and themed journal issues (e.g. [32][33][34][35]). Moreover, recent research articles show that the study of cultural transmission is not only relevant for understanding what shaped human origins, but also to make sense of what is happening in the present, from the spread of news on social media [36] to healthy behaviour in social networks [37], and many other features of the 'information age'.…”

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“…By contrast, innovators act like cultural reservoirs and incubators that permit the selection of advantages (social, cultural or biological). 2,3 There is an important place for more variation of views and approaches and protection of local and personalised approaches to recovery, seeing patient as innovators. Exceptional people and exceptional views should be welcomed as avenues to improve mental healthcare.…”

“…Recent research on the cultural transmission of innovation has shown how progressive and remarkable individuals (like Hawking) can have a disproportionate influence on advances in society, more so than shared social movements, as these face greater resistance, less diversity of opinion and inherent expectations of conformity. By contrast, innovators act like cultural reservoirs and incubators that permit the selection of advantages (social, cultural or biological) 2 , 3 . There is an important place for more variation of views and approaches and protection of local and personalised approaches to recovery, seeing patient as innovators.…”