Culture in Nonhuman Primates?

McGrew, William C.

doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.27.1.301

Cited by 155 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 145 publications

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“…The study of social learning in animals, especially in primates, is often guided by an interest in the evolutionary roots of human culture and cognition (McGrew 1998;Tomasello 1999;Boesch 2003;Laland 2008). Investigating social learning in animals is also of broad relevance for understanding animal behaviour, cognition and evolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network-based diffusion analysis: a new method for detecting social learning

2009

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Social learning has been documented in a wide diversity of animals. In free-living animals, however, it has been difficult to discern whether animals learn socially by observing other group members or asocially by acquiring a new behaviour independently. We addressed this challenge by developing network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA), which analyses the spread of traits through animal groups and takes into account that social network structure directs social learning opportunities. NBDA fits agent-based models of social and asocial learning to the observed data using maximum-likelihood estimation. The underlying learning mechanism can then be identified using model selection based on the Akaike information criterion. We tested our method with artificially created learning data that are based on a real-world co-feeding network of macaques. NBDA is better able to discriminate between social and asocial learning in comparison with diffusion curve analysis, the main method that was previously applied in this context. NBDA thus offers a new, more reliable statistical test of learning mechanisms. In addition, it can be used to address a wide range of questions related to social learning, such as identifying behavioural strategies used by animals when deciding whom to copy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network-based diffusion analysis: a new method for detecting social learning

2009

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“…In his comprehensive analysis of tool use (''culture'') amongst non-human primates McGrew (1998) listed the following genera which use tools of various kinds: Macaca, Cebus, Pongo, Gorilla, and Pan (for specific information, see, e.g., Boesch and Boesch, 1980;Galdikas, 1982;Wood, 1984;Huffman and Quiatt, 1986;Goodall, 1986;Chapman and Fedigan, 1990;Janson and Boinski, 1992;Fragaszy and Boinski, 1995;Visalberghi, 1997;Visalberghi and McGrew, 1997;van Schaik, 2004). That is, within all the living new world monkeys, Cebus is the only one in which tool use has been reported.…”

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confidence: 99%

Comparative Anatomical Study of the Forearm Extensor Muscles ofCebus libidinosus(Rylands et al., 2000; Primates, Cebidae), Modern Humans, and Other Primates, With Comments on Primate Evolution, Phylogeny, and Manipulatory Behavior

Aversi-Ferreira

Diogo

Potau

et al. 2010

The Anatomical Record

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Despite its abundance in Latin America, and its remarkable ability to use tools, there are only a few myological studies on the capuchin monkey, Cebus libidinosus. In the present study, we dissected the forearm extensor muscles of six adult males and two adult females of this species. We describe these muscles and compare them with those of other primates dissected by us and by other authors. The forearm extensor muscles of Cebus monkeys are, in general, more similar to those of other platyrrhines than to distantly related taxa that use tools, such as chimpanzees and modern humans, with three main exceptions: contrary to most other platyrrhines, (1) in Cebus, chimpanzees and modern humans the extensor pollicis longus usually inserts onto Digit I, and not onto Digits I and II; (2) in Cebus the abductor pollicis longus has two separate tendons, as is the case in chimpanzees, and in modern humans (where one of these tendons is associated with a distinct belly, forming the muscle extensor pollicis brevis); (3) in Cebus, and in modern humans and chimpanzees, the extensor pollicis longus is not deeply blended with the extensor indicis. Therefore, the Cebus monkeys provide an illustrative example of how phylogenetic constrains and ecological adaptations have been combined to develop a specific myological configuration that, associated with their sophisticated neurological organization, allow them to easily navigate in their arboreal habitats and, at the same time, to finely manipulate objects in order to search for food and to prepare this food for ingestion. Anat Rec, 293:2056Rec, 293: -2070

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“…1.2.3, para. 2) This approach dovetails with, and nicely extends, recent emphases on evolutionary continuity between nonhuman primate and human culture (Boesch & Tomasello 1998;McGrew 1998), and primate communication and human language (King 1994;1999b). An important innovation by Laland et al is their suggestion that the key evolutionary significance of niche construction rests with the role of feedback; the organism transforms its "adaptive landscape" not only by the direct action it takes, but also indirectly via feedback (sect.…”

Section: Another Frame Shift: From Cultural Transmission To Cultural mentioning

confidence: 76%

Niche construction: A pervasive force in evolution?

Steen¹

2000

Behav. Brain Sci.

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Abstract:We propose a conceptual model that maps the causal pathways relating biological evolution to cultural change. It builds on conventional evolutionary theory by placing emphasis on the capacity of organisms to modify sources of natural selection in their environment (niche construction) and by broadening the evolutionary dynamic to incorporate ontogenetic and cultural processes. In this model, phenotypes have a much more active role in evolution than generally conceived. This sheds light on hominid evolution, on the evolution of culture, and on altruism and cooperation. Culture amplifies the capacity of human beings to modify sources of natural selection in their environments to the point where that capacity raises some new questions about the processes of human adaptation.Keywords: adaptation; altruism; cooperation; evolutionary psychology; gene-culture coevolution; human evolution; human genetics; niche construction; sociobiology by the failure of Lamarkism. The so-called Weismann barrier effectively stops genes from being affected by any of the acquired characteristics of phenotypes, including the culturally acquired characteristics of human beings (Mayr 1982). Modern molecular biologists do interfere with genes directly on the basis of their acquired scientific experiences, but this innovation is too recent to have had any impact on human genetic evolution. The failure of this route therefore left only the second alternative, which encouraged sociobiology's claim that phenotypes of all species, including our own, reduce to "survival machines" or "vehicles" for their genes (Dawkins 1989) and that the only role phenotypes play in evolution is to survive and reproduce differentially in response to natural selection and chance. This subordinate status for phenotypes does not cut off human culture from human genetic evolution entirely, insofar as it still allows culture to contribute to human adaptations (Alexander 1979) and hence to genotypic fitnesses. However, according to this perspective, culture has no power to codirect human genetic evolution through active modification or creation of selection pressures.Other evolutionary biologists maintain that culture frequently does affect the evolutionary process, and some have begun to develop mathematical and conceptual models of gene-culture coevolution that involve descriptions not only of how human genetic evolution influences culture but also of how human culture can drive or codirect at least some genetic changes in human populations (Boyd & Richerson 1985; Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman 1981;Durham 1991;. These models include culturally biased nonrandom mating systems (see, e.g., Aoki & Feldman 1997;Durham 1991;Laland 1994), the treatment of human sociocultural or linguistic environments as sources of natural selection (Aoki & Feldman 1987; Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman 1983), and the impact of different cultural activities on the transmission of certain diseases such as malaria and sickle-cell anaemia (Durham 1991). The common element among these cases is that...

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Culture in Nonhuman Primates?

Cited by 155 publications

References 145 publications

Network-based diffusion analysis: a new method for detecting social learning

Network-based diffusion analysis: a new method for detecting social learning

Comparative Anatomical Study of the Forearm Extensor Muscles ofCebus libidinosus(Rylands et al., 2000; Primates, Cebidae), Modern Humans, and Other Primates, With Comments on Primate Evolution, Phylogeny, and Manipulatory Behavior

Niche construction: A pervasive force in evolution?

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