Learning and skill development in wild primates: toward a better understanding of cognitive evolution

Carvajal, Luz; Schuppli, Caroline

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101155

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…In its simplest form, social learning is non-observational, and knowledge is transferred through social facilitation or local enhancement (Whiten et al 2004;Rapaport and Brown 2008). However, to acquire more learning-intense skills such as tool use, high-fidelity forms of social learning, namely observational social learning (e.g., imitation or emulation) or interactions with other individuals (e.g., teaching) are needed to allow for reliable transmission of information (Carvajal and Schuppli 2022). The ability to learn socially is likely an adaptive behaviour (van Schaik and Burkart 2011), and social learning is a prerequisite for the formation of traditions and cultures (van Schaik et al 2003;Whiten et al 1999;Heyes 2012) which are most pronounced and advanced in great apes, most of all humans (Jaeggi et al 2010;van Schaik et al 2017;Whiten et al 1999;van Schaik et al 2003).…”

Section: Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The development of social attention in orangutans: comparing peering behaviour in wild and zoo-housed individuals

Kukofka,

Young,

Kunz

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Social learning is the cornerstone of all cultural processes and plays a pivotal role during the evolution of cognition. To understand how social learning evolved, we have to look at the immediate and developmental conditions affecting individuals’ tendencies to attend to social information. We compared peering behaviour (i.e., close-range and sustained observation of the activities of conspecifics) in wild and zoo-housed immature Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) by analysing long-term data which included 3101 peering events collected at the Suaq Balimbing research site in Indonesia and at four European zoos on 35 immature individuals. Using Generalized-Additive-Mixed-Models, we tested for age-specific patterns in peering frequency, target, and context selection. We found similar age trajectories of peering in both settings but higher mean frequencies of peering in the zoos, even after controlling for varying social opportunities to peer. Wild immatures preferably peered at their mothers but zoo-housed immatures at non-mother individuals. In both settings, immatures preferred to peer at older individuals, and in learning-intense contexts. Our findings suggest a hard-wired component in the tendency to attend to social information and a considerable degree of ontogenetic plasticity - a combination that was likely foundational for the evolution of complex cultures, including human culture.HighlightsWe compared attendance to social information in wild and zoo-housed orangutansImmature orangutans peer in contexts where learning is expectedPeering frequency develops similarly over age, suggesting hardwired propensitiesPeering target and context selection differs between the two settingsOrangutans’ tendency to attend to social information shows plasticity

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Section: Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development of social attention in orangutans: comparing peering behaviour in wild and zoo-housed individuals

Kukofka,

Young,

Kunz

et al. 2024

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…In most mammals, brain growth is largely completed around weaning [59,60], whereas adulthood is postponed until bodily growth is completed. Accordingly, many species tend to reach adult-level ecological skills such as the recognition of the values of specific food items and basic processing techniques around weaning [61][62][63], while they master most complex skills later: extractive foraging [64] and especially tool use [65]. Birds differ greatly from mammals in that both brain and body growth are completed very early [66], well (sometimes years [67]) before reproduction starts.…”

Section: The Expensive Brain: Developmental Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extended parental provisioning and variation in vertebrate brain sizes

Schaik

Song²,

Schuppli³

et al. 2023

PLoS Biol

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Large brains provide adaptive cognitive benefits but require unusually high, near-constant energy inputs and become fully functional well after their growth is completed. Consequently, young of most larger-brained endotherms should not be able to independently support the growth and development of their own brains. This paradox is solved if the evolution of extended parental provisioning facilitated brain size evolution. Comparative studies indeed show that extended parental provisioning coevolved with brain size and that it may improve immature survival. The major role of extended parental provisioning supports the idea that the ability to sustain the costs of brains limited brain size evolution.

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“…In mammals, brain growth, though not differentiation, is largely completed around weaning [52]. Accordingly, many species tend to reach adult-level ecological skills such as the recognition of the values of specific food items and processing techniques around weaning [53][54][55], although the most complex skills, including tool use, are reached much later [56]. Among primates, the development of food/object manipulation techniques follow a fixed trajectory of increasing complexity, which also holds phylogenetically.…”

Section: The Expensive Brain: Developmental Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The brain’s bootstrapping problem and its consequences: Parental provisioning and variation in vertebrate brain sizes

Schaik¹

2022

Preprint

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Our understanding of the considerable variation in vertebrate brain size remains incomplete. Large brains are adaptive but brains require unusually high, near-constant energy inputs, and are prioritized energy targets. This trade-off also has understudied developmental consequences: immatures must develop a fully functional brain without already having one. We here propose that energy subsidies through parental provisioning solved this bootstrapping problem, and find strong empirical support. Parental provisioning also improves immature survival and facilitates evolutionary increases in brain size. We call for better integration of costs and benefits of brains, and reevaluation of the cognitive abilities used in comparative tests.

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Learning and skill development in wild primates: toward a better understanding of cognitive evolution

Cited by 6 publications

References 59 publications

The development of social attention in orangutans: comparing peering behaviour in wild and zoo-housed individuals

The development of social attention in orangutans: comparing peering behaviour in wild and zoo-housed individuals

Extended parental provisioning and variation in vertebrate brain sizes

The brain’s bootstrapping problem and its consequences: Parental provisioning and variation in vertebrate brain sizes

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