| 1. |
- Acerbi, Alberto, et al.
(författare)
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Behavioral constraints and the evolution of faithful social learning
- 2012
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Ingår i: Current Zoology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1674-5507 .- 2396-9814. ; 58:2, s. 307-318
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Behavioral “traditions”, i.e. behavioral patterns that are acquired with the aid of social learning and that are relativelystable in a group, have been observed in several species. Recently, however, it has been questioned whether non-human sociallearning is faithful enough to stabilize those patterns. The observed stability could be interpreted as a result of various constraintsthat limit the number of possible alternative behaviors, rather than of the fidelity of transmission mechanisms. Those constraints canbe roughly described as “internal”, such as mechanical (bodily) properties or cognitive limitations and predispositions, and “external”, such as ecological availability or pressures. Here we present an evolutionary individual-based model that explores the relationships between the evolution of faithful social learning and behavioral constraints, represented both by the size of the behavioral repertoire and by the “shape” of the search space of a given task. We show that the evolution of high-fidelity transmission mechanisms, when associated with costs (e.g. cognitive, biomechanical, energetic, etc.), is only likely if the potential behavioral repertoire of a species is large and if the search space does not provide information that can be exploited by individual learning. Moreover we show how stable behavioral patterns (“traditions”) can be achieved at the population level as an outcome of both high-fidelity and low-fidelity transmission mechanisms, given that the latter are coupled with a small behavioral repertoire or with a search space that provide substantial feedback. Finally, by introducing the possibility of environmental change, we show that intermediaterates of change favor the evolution of faithful social learning.
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| 2. |
- Acerbi, Alberto, et al.
(författare)
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Modeling imitation and emulation in constrained search spaces
- 2011
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Ingår i: Animal Learning and Behavior. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0090-4996 .- 1532-5830 .- 1543-4494 .- 1543-4508. ; 39:2, s. 104-114
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social transmission of behavior can be realized through distinct mechanisms. Research on primate social learning typically distinguishes two forms of information that a learner can extract from a demonstrator: copying actions (defined as imitation) or copying only the consequential results (defined as emulation). We propose a decomposition of these learning mechanisms (plus pure individual learning) that incorporates the core idea that social learning can be represented as a search for an optimal behavior that is constrained by different kinds of information. We illustrate our approach with an individual-based model in which individuals solve tasks in abstract “spaces” that represent behavioral actions, results, and benefits of those results. Depending on the learning mechanisms at their disposal, individuals have differential access to the information conveyed in these spaces. We show how different classes of tasks may provide distinct advantages to individuals with different learning mechanisms and discuss how our approach contributes to current empirical and theoretical research on social learning and culture.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Claes, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Zooming out the microscope on cumulative cultural evolution: ‘Trajectory B’ from animal to human culture
- 2023
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Ingår i: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. - 2662-9992. ; 10, s. 1-20
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is widely believed that human culture originated in the appearance of Oldowan stone-tool production (circa 2.9 Mya) and a primitive but effective ability to copy detailed know-how. Cumulative cultural evolution is then believed to have led to modern humans and human culture via self-reinforcing gene-culture co-evolution. This outline evolutionary trajectory has come to be seen as all but self-evident, but dilemmas have appeared as it has been explored in increasing detail. Can we attribute even a minimally effective know-how copying capability to Oldowan hominins? Do Oldowan tools really demand know-how copying? Is there any other evidence that know-how copying was present? We here argue that this account, which we refer to as “Trajectory A”, may be a red herring, and formulate an alternative “Trajectory B” that resolves these dilemmas. Trajectory B invokes an overlooked group-level channel of cultural inheritance (the Social Protocell) whereby networks of cultural traits can be faithfully inherited and potentially undergo cumulative evolution, also when the underpinning cultural traits are apelike in not being transmitted via know-how copying (Latent Solutions). Since most preconditions of Trajectory B are present in modern-day Pan, Trajectory B may even have its roots considerably before Oldowan toolmaking. The cumulative build-up of networks of non-cumulative cultural traits is then argued to have produced conditions that both called for and afforded a gradual appearance of the ability to copy know-how, but considerably later than the Oldowan.
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| 4. |
- Ekström, Axel G., et al.
(författare)
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Phonetic correlates of hominin evolution in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs : Becoming pre-adapted for speech
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Despite decades of research, the field of language evolution lacks a cohesive integrative account, capable of explicating possible linguistic evolution throughout the development of modern humans. We review archaeological findings in search of a timeline during which features of the modern human articulatory morphology emerged. Rudimentary systems of speech may have driven selection for a vocal tract “optimal” for speech in early humans. However, a range of other factors have also enacted substantial morphological changes to the would-be speech articulators. The incorporation of processed and (ultimately) cooked food in the Homo lineage likely facilitated significant reduction of mandible and masticatory muscles, decreased the time spent masticating, and may have been maintainable in the lineage because food processing had already been outsourced to the hands and rudimentary stone tools (reducing selection pressure for robust jaws). The articulatory anatomy of early human ancestors is limited with regard to human speech sounds, but theoretically allows for a greater range of sounds than are observed in nature. We suggest that with decreased pressure to maintain anatomical elements required for mastication of foods that are mechanically challenging to eat, the would-be articulatory complex of human ancestors may have become pre-adapted for the development toward fully modern human speech.
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| 5. |
- Motes-Rodrigo, Alba, et al.
(författare)
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Chimpanzee extractive foraging with excavating tools: Experimental modeling of the origins of human technology
- 2019
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1932-6203. ; 14:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is hypothesized that tool-assisted excavation of plant underground storage organs (USOs) played an adaptive role in hominin evolution and was also once considered a uniquely human behavior. Recent data indicate that savanna chimpanzees also use tools to excavate edible USOs. However, those chimpanzees remain largely unhabituated and we lack direct observations of this behavior in the wild. To fill this gap in our knowledge of hominoid USO extractive foraging, we conducted tool-mediated excavation experiments with captive chimpanzees naive to this behavior. We presented the chimpanzees with the opportunity to use tools in order to excavate artificially-placed underground foods in their naturally forested outdoor enclosure. No guidance or demonstration was given to the chimpanzees at any time. The chimpanzees used tools spontaneously in order to excavate the underground foods. They exhibited six different tool use behaviors in the context of excavation: probe, perforate, dig, pound, enlarge and shovel. However, they still excavated manually more often than they did with tools. Chimpanzees were selective in their choice of tools that we provided, preferring longer tools for excavation. They also obtained their own tools mainly from naturally occurring vegetation and transported them to the excavation site. They reused some tools throughout the study. Our new data provide a direction for the study of variables relevant to modeling USO extractive foraging by early hominins.
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