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Harrison RA, Dongre P, van Schaik CP, van de Waal E. The forgotten adaptive social benefits of social learning in animals. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:1638-1651. [PMID: 38666404 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 09/03/2024]
Abstract
Theoretical and empirical scholars of cultural evolution have traditionally studied social learning strategies, such as conformity, as adaptive strategies to obtain accurate information about the environment, whereas within social psychology there has been a greater focus upon the social consequences of such strategies. Although these two approaches are often used in concert when studying human social learning, we believe the potential social benefits of conformity, and of social learning more broadly, have been overlooked in studies of non-humans. We review evidence from studies of homophily, imitation, and rapid facial mimicry that suggests that behaving like others affords social benefits to non-human animals and that behaviour matching may be deployed strategically to increase affiliation. Furthermore, we review studies of conformity in dispersers, and suggest that forgoing personal information or preferences in favour of those of the new group during immigration may be a strategy to facilitate social integration. We therefore propose that the informational and social functions of conformity apply to humans and animals alike. We use this perspective to generate several interesting research questions to inspire work in this field. For example, under what conditions do animals use informational or social conformity and what role does uncertainty play in social learning in immigrant individuals?
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel A Harrison
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Le Biophore, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland
- The Sense Innovation and Research Center, Avenue de Provence 82, Lausanne, CH-1007, Switzerland
| | - Pooja Dongre
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Le Biophore, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland
| | - Carel P van Schaik
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, CH-8057, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Affolternstrasse 56, Zurich, CH-8050, Switzerland
| | - Erica van de Waal
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Le Biophore, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland
- The Sense Innovation and Research Center, Avenue de Provence 82, Lausanne, CH-1007, Switzerland
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2
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Malherbe M, Samuni L, Ebel SJ, Kopp KS, Crockford C, Wittig RM. Protracted development of stick tool use skills extends into adulthood in wild western chimpanzees. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002609. [PMID: 38713644 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 05/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Tool use is considered a driving force behind the evolution of brain expansion and prolonged juvenile dependency in the hominin lineage. However, it remains rare across animals, possibly due to inherent constraints related to manual dexterity and cognitive abilities. In our study, we investigated the ontogeny of tool use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), a species known for its extensive and flexible tool use behavior. We observed 70 wild chimpanzees across all ages and analyzed 1,460 stick use events filmed in the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire during the chimpanzee attempts to retrieve high-nutrient, but difficult-to-access, foods. We found that chimpanzees increasingly utilized hand grips employing more than 1 independent digit as they matured. Such hand grips emerged at the age of 2, became predominant and fully functional at the age of 6, and ubiquitous at the age of 15, enhancing task accuracy. Adults adjusted their hand grip based on the specific task at hand, favoring power grips for pounding actions and intermediate grips that combine power and precision, for others. Highly protracted development of suitable actions to acquire hidden (i.e., larvae) compared to non-hidden (i.e., nut kernel) food was evident, with adult skill levels achieved only after 15 years, suggesting a pronounced cognitive learning component to task success. The prolonged time required for cognitive assimilation compared to neuromotor control points to selection pressure favoring the retention of learning capacities into adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Malherbe
- Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229 CNRS, Lyon, France
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, CSRS, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
| | - Liran Samuni
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, CSRS, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
- Cooperative Evolution Lab, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Sonja J Ebel
- Comparative Cultural Psychology, MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Human Biology & Primate Cognition, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kathrin S Kopp
- Comparative Cultural Psychology, MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Human Biology & Primate Cognition, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Catherine Crockford
- Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229 CNRS, Lyon, France
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, CSRS, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
| | - Roman M Wittig
- Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229 CNRS, Lyon, France
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, CSRS, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
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3
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Seese S, Tinsley CE, Wulffraat G, Hixon JG, Monfils MH. Conspecific interactions predict social transmission of fear in female rats. Sci Rep 2024; 14:7804. [PMID: 38565873 PMCID: PMC10987648 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-58258-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Social transmission of fear occurs in a subset of individuals, where an Observer displays a fear response to a previously neutral stimulus after witnessing or interacting with a conspecific Demonstrator during memory retrieval. The conditions under which fear can be acquired socially in rats have received attention in recent years, and suggest that social factors modulate social transmission of information. We previously found that one such factor, social rank, impacts fear conditioning by proxy in male rats. Here, we aimed to investigate whether social roles as determined by nape contacts in females, might also have an influence on social transmission of fear. In-line with previous findings in males, we found that social interactions in the home cage can provide insight into the social relationship between female rats and that these relationships predict the degree of fear acquired by-proxy. These results suggest that play behavior affects the social transfer/transmission of information in female rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sydney Seese
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 108 E. Dean Keeton Stop A8000, Austin, TX, 78712-1043, USA
| | - Carolyn E Tinsley
- Department of Neurology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Grace Wulffraat
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 108 E. Dean Keeton Stop A8000, Austin, TX, 78712-1043, USA
| | - J Gregory Hixon
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 108 E. Dean Keeton Stop A8000, Austin, TX, 78712-1043, USA
| | - Marie-H Monfils
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 108 E. Dean Keeton Stop A8000, Austin, TX, 78712-1043, USA.
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Sassi Y, Nouzières B, Scacco M, Tremblay Y, Duriez O, Robira B. The use of social information in vulture flight decisions. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20231729. [PMID: 38471548 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Animals rely on a balance of personal and social information to decide when and where to move next in order to access a desired resource. The benefits from cueing on conspecifics to reduce uncertainty about resource availability can be rapidly overcome by the risks of within-group competition, often exacerbated toward low-ranked individuals. Being obligate soarers, relying on thermal updraughts to search for carcasses around which competition can be fierce, vultures represent ideal models to investigate the balance between personal and social information during foraging movements. Linking dominance hierarchy, social affinities and meteorological conditions to movement decisions of eight captive vultures, Gyps spp., released for free flights in natural soaring conditions, we found that they relied on social information (i.e. other vultures using/having used the thermals) to find the next thermal updraught, especially in unfavourable flight conditions. Low-ranked individuals were more likely to disregard social cues when deciding where to go next, possibly to minimize the competitive risk of social aggregation. These results exemplify the architecture of decision-making during flight in social birds. It suggests that the environmental context, the context of risk and the social system as a whole calibrate the balance between personal and social information use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yohan Sassi
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | | | - Martina Scacco
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Yann Tremblay
- Marine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC), University of Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Sète, France
| | - Olivier Duriez
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Benjamin Robira
- Department of Biodiversity and Molecular Ecology, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige, Italy
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5
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Borthwick Z, Quiring K, Griffith SC, Leu ST. Heat stress conditions affect the social network structure of free-ranging sheep. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e10996. [PMID: 38352202 PMCID: PMC10862161 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Extreme weather conditions, like heatwave events, are becoming more frequent with climate change. Animals often modify their behaviour to cope with environmental changes and extremes. During heat stress conditions, individuals change their spatial behaviour and increase the use of shaded areas to assist with thermoregulation. Here, we suggest that for social species, these behavioural changes and ambient conditions have the potential to influence an individual's position in its social network, and the social network structure as a whole. We investigated whether heat stress conditions (quantified through the temperature humidity index) and the resulting use of shaded areas, influence the social network structure and an individual's connectivity in it. We studied this in free-ranging sheep in the arid zone of Australia, GPS-tracking all 48 individuals in a flock. When heat stress conditions worsened, individuals spent more time in the shade and the network was more connected (higher density) and less structured (lower modularity). Furthermore, we then identified the behavioural change that drove the altered network structure and showed that an individual's shade use behaviour affected its social connectivity. Interestingly, individuals with intermediate shade use were most strongly connected (degree, strength, betweenness), indicating their importance for the connectivity of the social network during heat stress conditions. Heat stress conditions, which are predicted to increase in severity and frequency due to climate change, influence resource use within the ecological environment. Importantly, our study shows that these heat stress conditions also affect the animal's social environment through the changed social network structure. Ultimately, this could have further flow on effects for social foraging and individual health since social structure drives information and disease transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary Borthwick
- School of Animal and Veterinary SciencesThe University of AdelaideRoseworthySouth AustraliaAustralia
| | - Katrin Quiring
- School of Natural SciencesMacquarie UniversitySydneyNew South WalesAustralia
- Department of Behavioural EcologyUniversity of GöttingenGöttingenGermany
| | - Simon C. Griffith
- School of Natural SciencesMacquarie UniversitySydneyNew South WalesAustralia
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of New South WalesSydneyNew South WalesAustralia
| | - Stephan T. Leu
- School of Animal and Veterinary SciencesThe University of AdelaideRoseworthySouth AustraliaAustralia
- School of Natural SciencesMacquarie UniversitySydneyNew South WalesAustralia
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Manrique HM, Walker MJ. Bounding surprisal is only part of the story…Reply to comments on "To copy or not to copy? That is the question! From chimpanzees to the foundation of human technological culture". Phys Life Rev 2023; 47:279-283. [PMID: 37995541 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Héctor M Manrique
- Departamento de Psicología y Sociología, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
| | - Michael J Walker
- Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
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Sauciuc GA, Persson T. Empirical challenges from the comparative and developmental literature to the Shared Intentionality Theory - a review of alternative data on recursive mind reading, prosociality, imitation and cumulative culture. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1157137. [PMID: 37901066 PMCID: PMC10613111 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1157137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans have an irresistible inclination to coordinate actions with others, leading to species-unique forms of cooperation. According to the highly influential Shared Intentionality Theory (SITh), human cooperation is made possible by shared intentionality (SI), typically defined as a suite of socio-cognitive and motivational traits for sharing psychological states with others, thereby enabling individuals to engage in joint action in the mutually aware pursuit of shared goals. SITh theorises that SI evolved as late as 400,000 years ago, when our ancestors (in particular, Homo heidelbergensis) turned to a kind of food procurement that obligatorily required joint coordinated action. SI is, thus, hypothesized to be absent in other extant species, including our closest genetic relatives, the nonhuman great apes ("apes"). According to SITh, ape psychology is exclusively driven by individualistic motivations, as opposed to human psychology which is uniquely driven by altruistic motivations. The evolutionary scenario proposed by SITh builds on a series of findings from socio-cognitive research with apes and human children, and on the assumption that abilities expressed early in human development are human universals, unlikely to have been shaped by socio-cultural influences. Drawing on the primatological and developmental literature, we provide a systematic - albeit selective - review of SITh-inconsistent findings concerning psychological and behavioural traits theorised to be constitutive of SI. The findings we review pertain to all three thematic clusters typically addressed in SITh: (i) recursive mind reading; (ii) prosociality; (iii) imitation and cumulative culture. We conclude that such alternative data undermine two core SITh claims: the late evolutionary emergence of SI and the radical divide between ape and human psychology. We also discuss several conceptual and methodological limitations that currently hamper reliable comparative research on SI, in particular those engendered by Western-centric biases in the social sciences, where an overreliance on Western samples has promoted the formulation of Western-centric conceptualisations, operationalisations and methodologies.
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8
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Pan Y, Vinding MC, Zhang L, Lundqvist D, Olsson A. A Brain-To-Brain Mechanism for Social Transmission of Threat Learning. ADVANCED SCIENCE (WEINHEIM, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY) 2023; 10:e2304037. [PMID: 37544901 PMCID: PMC10558655 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202304037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Survival and adaptation in environments require swift and efficacious learning about what is dangerous. Across species, much of such threat learning is acquired socially, e.g., through the observation of others' ("demonstrators'") defensive behaviors. However, the specific neural mechanisms responsible for the integration of information shared between demonstrators and observers remain largely unknown. This dearth of knowledge is addressed by performing magnetoencephalography (MEG) neuroimaging in demonstrator-observer dyads. A set of stimuli are first shown to a demonstrator whose defensive responses are filmed and later presented to an observer, while neuronal activity is recorded sequentially from both individuals who never interacted directly. These results show that brain-to-brain coupling (BtBC) in the fronto-limbic circuit (including insula, ventromedial, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) within demonstrator-observer dyads predict subsequent expressions of learning in the observer. Importantly, the predictive power of BtBC magnifies when a threat is imminent to the demonstrator. Furthermore, BtBC depends on how observers perceive their social status relative to the demonstrator, likely driven by shared attention and emotion, as bolstered by dyadic pupillary coupling. Taken together, this study describes a brain-to-brain mechanism for social threat learning, involving BtBC, which reflects social relationships and predicts adaptive, learned behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafeng Pan
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral SciencesZhejiang UniversityHangzhou310058China
- Department of Clinical NeuroscienceKarolinska InstitutetStockholm17165Sweden
| | - Mikkel C. Vinding
- Department of Clinical NeuroscienceKarolinska InstitutetStockholm17165Sweden
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and ResearchCopenhagen University Hospital ‐ Amager and HvidovreCopenhagen2650Denmark
| | - Lei Zhang
- Centre for Human Brain HealthSchool of PsychologyUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamB15 2TTUK
- Institute for Mental HealthSchool of PsychologyUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamB15 2TTUK
- SocialCognitive and Affective Neuroscience UnitDepartment of CognitionEmotionand Methods in PsychologyFaculty of PsychologyUniversity of ViennaVienna1010Austria
| | - Daniel Lundqvist
- Department of Clinical NeuroscienceKarolinska InstitutetStockholm17165Sweden
| | - Andreas Olsson
- Department of Clinical NeuroscienceKarolinska InstitutetStockholm17165Sweden
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Schuppli C, Nellissen L, Carvajal L, Ashbury AM, Oliver-Caldwell N, Rahmaeti T, Laumer I, Haun D. Ecological, social, and intrinsic factors affecting wild orangutans' curiosity, assessed using a field experiment. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13184. [PMID: 37580333 PMCID: PMC10425418 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39214-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The readiness to interact with and explore novel stimuli-i.e., curiosity-is the cornerstone of innovation. Great apes show broad and complex innovation repertoires. However, little is known about the factors that affect curiosity in wild apes. To shed light on wild apes' curiosity, we measured the reactions of wild Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) to an experiment apparatus. Overall, individuals were reluctant to touch the apparatus. However, compared to adults, immatures showed higher tendencies to explore (measured through looking durations and the probability of touching the apparatus) and to approach (measured through approach latencies and approach distances) the apparatus but were more likely to show behavioral signs of agitation. The presence of conspecifics who approached the apparatus increased visual exploration and approach tendencies. Prevailing habitat food availability positively affected visual exploration but had a negative effect on approach tendencies. These findings indicate that intrinsic, social, and ecological factors affect reactions to novelty in wild orangutans and suggest that exploration, neophobia and neophilia are independently regulated. Because reactions to novelty can be an essential pathway to innovation, our results suggest that factors acting on different elements of curiosity must be considered to understand the evolution of innovative tendencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Schuppli
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Bücklestrasse 5, 78467, Konstanz, Germany.
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Jahnallee 59, 04109, Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Lara Nellissen
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Éco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 135, Rue Cuvier, 75 231, Paris Cedex 5, France
- Institute of Biology, Department of Comparative Cognition, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000, Neuchatel, Switzerland
| | - Luz Carvajal
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
| | - Alison M Ashbury
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Bücklestrasse 5, 78467, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Natalie Oliver-Caldwell
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Tri Rahmaeti
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Bücklestrasse 5, 78467, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, Graduate School, Universitas Nasional, Jalan Sawo Manila, RT.14/RW.3, Jakarta, 12550, Indonesia
| | - Isabelle Laumer
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Bücklestrasse 5, 78467, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Daniel Haun
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
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10
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Arseneau-Robar TJM, Anderson KA, Sicotte P, Teichroeb JA. Monkeys who experience more feeding competition utilize social information to learn foraging skills faster. Sci Rep 2023; 13:11624. [PMID: 37468534 PMCID: PMC10356951 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37536-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Animals must learn foraging skills to successfully survive and reproduce but the sources of interindividual variation in learning are poorly understood. For example, there is little consensus on the role motivation plays, even though it is a key factor impacting learning outcomes in humans. Here, we conduct a field experiment on a wild primate to investigate whether an individual's vulnerability to feeding competition impacts their motivation to learn a beneficial foraging technique. We provided a group of monkeys with a food reward (i.e., a half banana) that needed to be retrieved from a box. The monkeys discovered an efficient technique that consistently allowed them to retrieve the banana quickly, decreasing the risk of food loss to competitors. We found that individuals who frequently experienced feeding competition learned this efficient technique significantly faster than individuals who rarely foraged in the presence of a dominant competitor. They appeared to use social learning to learn faster as they were more attentive to the handling techniques others used and improved their foraging skills after opportunities to observe a skilled demonstrator. These findings support that an individual's vulnerability to feeding competition impacts their motivation to learn foraging skills that reduce food loss to competitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Jean M Arseneau-Robar
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada.
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
| | - Karyn A Anderson
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Pascale Sicotte
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Julie A Teichroeb
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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11
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Cross CP, Boothroyd LG, Jefferson CA. Agent-based models of the cultural evolution of occupational gender roles. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:221346. [PMID: 37388313 PMCID: PMC10300665 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
The causes of sex differences in human behaviour are contested, with 'evolutionary' and 'social' explanations often being pitted against each other in the literature. Recent work showing positive correlations between indices of gender equality and the size of sex differences in behaviour has been argued to show support for 'evolutionary' over 'social' approaches. This argument, however, neglects the potential for social learning to generate arbitrary gender segregation. In the current paper we simulate, using agent-based models, a population where agents exist as one of two 'types' and can use social information about which types of agents are performing which 'roles' within their environment. We find that agents self-segregate into different roles even where real differences in performance do not exist, if there is a common belief (modelled as priors) that group differences may exist in 'innate' competence. Facilitating role changes such that agents should move without cost to the predicted highest-rewards for their skills (i.e. fluidity of the labour market) reduced segregation, while forcing extended exploration of different roles eradicated gender segregation. These models are interpreted in terms of bio-cultural evolution, and the impact of social learning on the expression of gender roles.
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Affiliation(s)
- C P Cross
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Mary's College, St Andrew, Fife KY16 9AZ, UK
| | - L G Boothroyd
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
| | - C A Jefferson
- School of Computer Science, University of St Andrews, Jack Cole Building, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SX, UK
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12
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Manrique HM, Walker MJ. To copy or not to copy? That is the question! From chimpanzees to the foundation of human technological culture. Phys Life Rev 2023; 45:6-24. [PMID: 36931123 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/08/2023]
Abstract
A prerequisite for copying innovative behaviour faithfully is the capacity of observers' brains, regarded as 'hierarchically mechanistic minds', to overcome cognitive 'surprisal' (see 2.), by maximising the evidence for their internal models, through active inference. Unlike modern humans, chimpanzees and other great apes show considerable limitations in their ability, or 'Zone of Bounded Surprisal', to overcome cognitive surprisal induced by innovative or unorthodox behaviour that rarely, therefore, is copied precisely or accurately. Most can copy adequately what is within their phenotypically habitual behavioural repertoire, in which technology plays scant part. Widespread intra- and intergenerational social transmission of complex technological innovations is not a hall-mark of great-ape taxa. 3 Ma, precursors of the genus Homo made stone artefacts, and stone-flaking likely was habitual before 2 Ma. After that time, early Homo erectus has left traces of technological innovations, though faithful copying of these and their intra- and intergenerational social transmission were rare before 1 Ma. This likely owed to a cerebral infrastructure of interconnected neuronal systems more limited than ours. Brains were smaller in size than ours, and cerebral neuronal systems ceased to develop when early Homo erectus attained full adult maturity by the mid-teen years, whereas its development continues until our mid-twenties nowadays. Pleistocene Homo underwent remarkable evolutionary adaptation of neurobiological propensities, and cerebral aspects are discussed that, it is proposed here, plausibly, were fundamental for faithful copying, which underpinned social transmission of technologies, cumulative learning, and culture. Here, observers' responses to an innovation are more important for ensuring its transmission than is an innovator's production of it, because, by themselves, the minimal cognitive prerequisites that are needed for encoding and assimilating innovations are insufficient for practical outcomes to accumulate and spread intra- and intergenerationally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Héctor M Manrique
- Departamento de Psicología y Sociología, Universidad de Zaragoza, Campus Universitario de Teruel, 44003, Teruel, Spain.
| | - Michael J Walker
- Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus Universitario de Espinardo Edificio 20, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
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13
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van Leeuwen EJ, Hoppitt W. Biased cultural transmission of a social custom in chimpanzees. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eade5675. [PMID: 36791187 PMCID: PMC9931211 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade5675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Cultural transmission studies in animals have predominantly focused on identifying between-group variation in tool-use techniques, while immaterial cultures remain understudied despite their potential for highlighting similarities between human and animal culture. Here, using long-term data from two chimpanzee communities, we tested whether one of chimpanzees' most enigmatic social customs-the grooming handclasp-is culturally transmitted by investigating the influence of well-documented human transmission biases on their variational preferences. After identifying differences in style preferences between the communities, we show that older and dominant individuals exert more influence over their partners' handclasp styles. Mothers were equally likely to influence their offspring's preferences as nonkin, indicating that styles are transmitted both vertically and obliquely. Last, individuals gradually converged on the group style, suggesting that conformity guides chimpanzees' handclasp preferences. Our findings show that chimpanzees' social lives are influenced by cultural transmission biases that hitherto were thought to be uniquely human.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin J. C. van Leeuwen
- Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, K. Astridplein 26, B 2018 Antwerp, Belgium
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - William Hoppitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK
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14
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Garcia-Nisa I, Evans C, Kendal RL. The influence of task difficulty, social tolerance and model success on social learning in Barbary macaques. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1176. [PMID: 36670123 PMCID: PMC9860066 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26699-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite playing a pivotal role in the inception of animal culture studies, macaque social learning is surprisingly understudied. Social learning is important to survival and influenced by dominance and affiliation in social animals. Individuals generally rely on social learning when individual learning is costly, and selectively use social learning strategies influencing what is learned and from whom. Here, we combined social learning experiments, using extractive foraging tasks, with network-based diffusion analysis (using various social relationships) to investigate the transmission of social information in free-ranging Barbary macaques. We also investigated the influence of task difficulty on reliance on social information and evidence for social learning strategies. Social learning was detected for the most difficult tasks only, with huddling relations outside task introductions, and observation networks during task introductions, predicting social transmission. For the most difficult task only, individuals appeared to employ a social learning strategy of copying the most successful demonstrator observed. Results indicate that high social tolerance represents social learning opportunities and influences social learning processes. The reliance of Barbary macaques on social learning, and cues of model-success supports the costly information hypothesis. Our study provides more statistical evidence to the previous claims indicative of culture in macaques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Garcia-Nisa
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
| | - Cara Evans
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Rachel L Kendal
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
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15
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The evolution of prestige: Perspectives and hypotheses from comparative studies. NEW IDEAS IN PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2022.100987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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16
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Gonzalez-Cabrera I. A lineage explanation of human normative guidance: the coadaptive model of instrumental rationality and shared intentionality. SYNTHESE 2022; 200:493. [PMID: 36438177 PMCID: PMC9681693 DOI: 10.1007/s11229-022-03925-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
This paper aims to contribute to the existing literature on normative cognition by providing a lineage explanation of human social norm psychology. This approach builds upon theories of goal-directed behavioral control in the reinforcement learning and control literature, arguing that this form of control defines an important class of intentional normative mental states that are instrumental in nature. I defend the view that great ape capacities for instrumental reasoning and our capacity (or family of capacities) for shared intentionality coadapted to each other and argue that the evolution of this capacity has allowed the representation of social norms and the emergence of our capacity for normative guidance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera
- Institute of Philosophy, University of Bern, Länggassstrasse 49, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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17
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Sciaky L, Gunst N, Wandia IN, Leca JB. Dyadic response facilitation of object play in Balinese long-tailed macaques. Behav Processes 2022; 203:104765. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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18
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Chimento M, Barrett BJ, Kandler A, Aplin LM. Cultural diffusion dynamics depend on behavioural production rules. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221001. [PMID: 35946158 PMCID: PMC9363993 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Culture is an outcome of both the acquisition of knowledge about behaviour through social transmission, and its subsequent production by individuals. Acquisition and production are often discussed or modelled interchangeably, yet to date no study has explored the consequences of their interaction for cultural diffusions. We present a generative model that integrates the two, and ask how variation in production rules might influence diffusion dynamics. Agents make behavioural choices that change as they learn from their productions. Their repertoires may also change, and the acquisition of behaviour is conditioned on its frequency. We analyse the diffusion of a novel behaviour through social networks, yielding generalizable predictions of how individual-level behavioural production rules influence population-level diffusion dynamics. We then investigate how linking acquisition and production might affect the performance of two commonly used inferential models for social learning; network-based diffusion analysis, and experience-weighted attraction models. We find that the influence that production rules have on diffusion dynamics has consequences for how inferential methods are applied to empirical data. Our model illuminates the differences between social learning and social influence, demonstrates the overlooked role of reinforcement learning in cultural diffusions, and allows for clearer discussions about social learning strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Chimento
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, Radolfzell 78315, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
| | - Brendan J Barrett
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, Radolfzell 78315, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany.,Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Anne Kandler
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Lucy M Aplin
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, Radolfzell 78315, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany.,Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, 46 Sullivan Creek Road, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia
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19
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Williams H, Scharf A, Ryba AR, Ryan Norris D, Mennill DJ, Newman AEM, Doucet SM, Blackwood JC. Cumulative cultural evolution and mechanisms for cultural selection in wild bird songs. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4001. [PMID: 35821243 PMCID: PMC9276793 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31621-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Cumulative cultural evolution, the accumulation of sequential changes within a single socially learned behaviour that results in improved function, is prominent in humans and has been documented in experimental studies of captive animals and managed wild populations. Here, we provide evidence that cumulative cultural evolution has occurred in the learned songs of Savannah sparrows. In a first step, "click trains" replaced "high note clusters" over a period of three decades. We use mathematical modelling to show that this replacement is consistent with the action of selection, rather than drift or frequency-dependent bias. Generations later, young birds elaborated the "click train" song form by adding more clicks. We show that the new songs with more clicks elicit stronger behavioural responses from both males and females. Therefore, we suggest that a combination of social learning, innovation, and sexual selection favoring a specific discrete trait was followed by directional sexual selection that resulted in naturally occurring cumulative cultural evolution in the songs of this wild animal population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather Williams
- Biology Department, Williams College, Williamstown, 01267, MA, USA.
| | - Andrew Scharf
- Biology Department, Williams College, Williamstown, 01267, MA, USA
- Mathematics and Statistics Department, Williams College, Williamstown, 01267, MA, USA
| | - Anna R Ryba
- Biology Department, Williams College, Williamstown, 01267, MA, USA
- The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Ave., New York, 10021, NY, USA
| | - D Ryan Norris
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, ON, Canada
| | - Daniel J Mennill
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor, Windsor, N9B 3P4, ON, Canada
| | - Amy E M Newman
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, ON, Canada
| | - Stéphanie M Doucet
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor, Windsor, N9B 3P4, ON, Canada
| | - Julie C Blackwood
- Mathematics and Statistics Department, Williams College, Williamstown, 01267, MA, USA
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20
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Harrison RA, van de Waal E. The unique potential of field research to understand primate social learning and cognition. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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21
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Bolotta S, Dumas G. Social Neuro AI: Social Interaction as the “Dark Matter” of AI. FRONTIERS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fcomp.2022.846440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This article introduces a three-axis framework indicating how AI can be informed by biological examples of social learning mechanisms. We argue that the complex human cognitive architecture owes a large portion of its expressive power to its ability to engage in social and cultural learning. However, the field of AI has mostly embraced a solipsistic perspective on intelligence. We thus argue that social interactions not only are largely unexplored in this field but also are an essential element of advanced cognitive ability, and therefore constitute metaphorically the “dark matter” of AI. In the first section, we discuss how social learning plays a key role in the development of intelligence. We do so by discussing social and cultural learning theories and empirical findings from social neuroscience. Then, we discuss three lines of research that fall under the umbrella of Social NeuroAI and can contribute to developing socially intelligent embodied agents in complex environments. First, neuroscientific theories of cognitive architecture, such as the global workspace theory and the attention schema theory, can enhance biological plausibility and help us understand how we could bridge individual and social theories of intelligence. Second, intelligence occurs in time as opposed to over time, and this is naturally incorporated by dynamical systems. Third, embodiment has been demonstrated to provide more sophisticated array of communicative signals. To conclude, we discuss the example of active inference, which offers powerful insights for developing agents that possess biological realism, can self-organize in time, and are socially embodied.
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22
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Children transition from simple associations to explicitly reasoned social learning strategies between age four and eight. Sci Rep 2022; 12:5045. [PMID: 35322165 PMCID: PMC8943005 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09092-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
To differentiate the use of simple associations from use of explicitly reasoned selective social learning, we can look for age-related changes in children’s behaviour that might signify a switch from one social learning strategy to the other. We presented 4- to 8-year-old children visiting a zoo in Scotland (N = 109) with a task in which the perceptual access of two informants was determined by the differing opacity of two screens of similar visual appearance during a hiding event. Initially success could be achieved by forming an association or inferring a rule based on salient visual (but causally irrelevant) cues. However, following a switch in the scenario, success required explicit reasoning about informants’ potential to provide valuable information based on their perceptual access. Following the switch, older children were more likely to select a knowledgeable informant. This suggests that some younger children who succeeded in the pre-switch trials had inferred rules or formed associations based on superficial, yet salient, visual cues, whereas older children made the link between perceptual access and the potential to inform. This late development and apparent cognitive challenge are consistent with proposals that such capacities are linked to the distinctiveness of human cumulative culture.
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23
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Dwortz MF, Curley JP, Tye KM, Padilla-Coreano N. Neural systems that facilitate the representation of social rank. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200444. [PMID: 35000438 PMCID: PMC8743891 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Across species, animals organize into social dominance hierarchies that serve to decrease aggression and facilitate survival of the group. Neuroscientists have adopted several model organisms to study dominance hierarchies in the laboratory setting, including fish, reptiles, rodents and primates. We review recent literature across species that sheds light onto how the brain represents social rank to guide socially appropriate behaviour within a dominance hierarchy. First, we discuss how the brain responds to social status signals. Then, we discuss social approach and avoidance learning mechanisms that we propose could drive rank-appropriate behaviour. Lastly, we discuss how the brain represents memories of individuals (social memory) and how this may support the maintenance of unique individual relationships within a social group. This article is part of the theme issue 'The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeleine F. Dwortz
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - James P. Curley
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Kay M. Tye
- Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Nancy Padilla-Coreano
- Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FN 32611, USA
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24
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Milewski TM, Lee W, Champagne FA, Curley JP. Behavioural and physiological plasticity in social hierarchies. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200443. [PMID: 35000436 PMCID: PMC8743892 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals occupying dominant and subordinate positions in social hierarchies exhibit divergent behaviours, physiology and neural functioning. Dominant animals express higher levels of dominance behaviours such as aggression, territorial defence and mate-guarding. Dominants also signal their status via auditory, visual or chemical cues. Moreover, dominant animals typically increase reproductive behaviours and show enhanced spatial and social cognition as well as elevated arousal. These biobehavioural changes increase energetic demands that are met via shifting both energy intake and metabolism and are supported by coordinated changes in physiological systems including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes as well as altered gene expression and sensitivity of neural circuits that regulate these behaviours. Conversely, subordinate animals inhibit dominance and often reproductive behaviours and exhibit physiological changes adapted to socially stressful contexts. Phenotypic changes in both dominant and subordinate individuals may be beneficial in the short-term but lead to long-term challenges to health. Further, rapid changes in social ranks occur as dominant animals socially ascend or descend and are associated with dynamic modulations in the brain and periphery. In this paper, we provide a broad overview of how behavioural and phenotypic changes associated with social dominance and subordination are expressed in neural and physiological plasticity. This article is part of the theme issue 'The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies'.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. M. Milewski
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - W. Lee
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - F. A. Champagne
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - J. P. Curley
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
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25
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Gruber T, Chimento M, Aplin LM, Biro D. Efficiency fosters cumulative culture across species. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200308. [PMID: 34894729 PMCID: PMC8666915 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies in several taxa have demonstrated that animal culture can evolve to become more efficient in various contexts ranging from tool use to route learning and migration. Under recent definitions, such increases in efficiency might satisfy the core criteria of cumulative cultural evolution (CCE). However, there is not yet a satisfying consensus on the precise definition of efficiency, CCE or the link between efficiency and more complex, extended forms of CCE considered uniquely human. To bring clarity to this wider discussion of CCE, we develop the concept of efficiency by (i) reviewing recent potential evidence for CCE in animals, and (ii) clarifying a useful definition of efficiency by synthesizing perspectives found within the literature, including animal studies and the wider iterated learning literature. Finally, (iii) we discuss what factors might impinge on the informational bottleneck of social transmission, and argue that this provides pressure for learnable behaviours across species. We conclude that framing CCE in terms of efficiency casts complexity in a new light, as learnable behaviours are a requirement for the evolution of complexity. Understanding how efficiency greases the ratchet of cumulative culture provides a better appreciation of how similar cultural evolution can be between taxonomically diverse species-a case for continuity across the animal kingdom. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. Gruber
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - M. Chimento
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - L. M. Aplin
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - D. Biro
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
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26
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Migliano AB, Vinicius L. The origins of human cumulative culture: from the foraging niche to collective intelligence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200317. [PMID: 34894737 PMCID: PMC8666907 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Various studies have investigated cognitive mechanisms underlying culture in humans and other great apes. However, the adaptive reasons for the evolution of uniquely sophisticated cumulative culture in our species remain unclear. We propose that the cultural capabilities of humans are the evolutionary result of a stepwise transition from the ape-like lifestyle of earlier hominins to the foraging niche still observed in extant hunter-gatherers. Recent ethnographic, archaeological and genetic studies have provided compelling evidence that the components of the foraging niche (social egalitarianism, sexual and social division of labour, extensive co-residence and cooperation with unrelated individuals, multilocality, fluid sociality and high between-camp mobility) engendered a unique multilevel social structure where the cognitive mechanisms underlying cultural evolution (high-fidelity transmission, innovation, teaching, recombination, ratcheting) evolved as adaptations. Therefore, multilevel sociality underlies a 'social ratchet' or irreversible task specialization splitting the burden of cultural knowledge across individuals, which may explain why human collective intelligence is uniquely able to produce sophisticated cumulative culture. The foraging niche perspective may explain why a complex gene-culture dual inheritance system evolved uniquely in humans and interprets the cultural, morphological and genetic origins of Homo sapiens as a process of recombination of innovations appearing in differentiated but interconnected populations. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, ZH, Switzerland
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27
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Dhananjaya T, Das S, Vyas AK, Gahlot P, Singh M. Extent of encounter with an embedded food influences how it is processed by an urbanizing macaque species. BEHAVIOUR 2022. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Rapid urbanization exerts novel adaptive pressures on animals at the interface of natural and altered environments. Urban animals often rely on synthetic foods that require skilled extraction and flexible processing. We studied how synthetic treatment of an embedded food, peanut, determined its extraction and processing across groups of bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) differing in encounter and familiarity with peanut. The possibility of the application of processing methods to similar foods was also tested. We found encounter- and form (native/shelled/skinned)-specific familiarity to peanuts, state (raw/boiled/roasted)-specific distinction in skinning, and encounter- and state-specific differences in methods of skinning. The group with the highest encounter with peanuts exhibited novel and manipulatively complex processing. Novel processing was also extended to peas and chickpeas. Our study establishes a strong relationship between familiarity with the condition of food and the processing methods used and further, demonstrates the probable role of categorization in extension of novel methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tejeshwar Dhananjaya
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
| | - Sayantan Das
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
- Wildlife Information Liaison Development, Coimbatore-641035, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Amal K. Vyas
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
| | - Prakhar Gahlot
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
| | - Mewa Singh
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
- Zoo Outreach Organization, Thiruvannamalai Nagar, Saravanampatti, Coimbatore-641035, Tamil Nadu, India
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28
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Easter C, Rowlands A, Hassall C, Hoppitt W. Aggression‐based social learning in the zebra finch (
Taeniopygia guttata
). Ethology 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Carrie Easter
- Faculty of Biological Sciences University of Leeds Leeds UK
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29
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Tradition–invention dichotomy and optimization in the field of science. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e272. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22001236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The central idea of the bifocal stance theory (BST) by Jagiello et al. has substantial relevance to scientific research. Both tradition-following and exploration-innovation are important in science and researchers subconsciously try to optimize their strategies. We outline three important dimensions of this optimization and argue that attempts to understand this complex process can help us design better science education, research training, investigation, and science publication.
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30
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Fonn EK, Zahl JH, Thomsen L. The boss is not always right: Norwegian preschoolers do not selectively endorse the testimony of a novel dominant agent. Child Dev 2021; 93:831-844. [PMID: 34958120 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Theories of cultural evolution posit that cues of competence-based prestige, rather than formidability-based dominance, should guide culturally transmitted learning, but recent work suggested that French and Kaqchikel Guatamalan preschoolers place their epistemic trust in dominant others. In contrast, this study shows that 249 three- to six-year-olds (116 girls, tested between 2016 and 2018 across metropolitan locations with varying ethnic composition and socioeconomic status) randomly endorsed the word-labels of dominant and subordinate agents in the egalitarian culture of Norway, using stimuli which solicit dominance inferences among infants and manipulating anonymity across studies to control for egalitarian desirability bias. A meta-analysis estimated that 48% endorsed the dominant's testimony. This demonstrates that the tendency to endorse the epistemic claims of dominant individuals does not emerge reliably in early childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Kjos Fonn
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Lotte Thomsen
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Centre for the Experimental-Philosophical Study of Discrimination, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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31
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Blakey KH, Atkinson M, Rafetseder E, Renner E, Caldwell CA. Taking account of others' goals in social information use: Developmental changes in 3- to 7-year-old children. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 215:105325. [PMID: 34896763 PMCID: PMC8784822 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Social information use improved with age but only for exploration of alternatives. Children were able to account for others’ conflicting motivations from 4 years. Alignment of the demonstrator’s and children’s goals did not influence performance. From 6 years children could infer the outcome of others’ behaviour. Rates of copying were low at all ages, even when it was the appropriate response.
The ability to take mental states such as goals into account when interpreting others’ behavior has been proposed to be what sets human use of social information apart from that of other animals. If so, children’s social information use would be expected to change as their understanding of others’ mental states develops. We explored age-related changes in 3- to 7-year-old children’s ability to strategically use social information by taking into account another’s goal when it was, or was not, aligned with their own. Children observed as a puppet demonstrator selected a capsule, peeked inside, and chose to accept or reject it, following which children made their own selection. Children were able to account for others’ conflicting motivations from around 4 years of age and reliably inferred the outcome of others’ behavior from 6 years. However, using social information based on such inferences appeared to be challenging regardless of whether the demonstrator’s goal was, or was not. aligned to that of the participant. We found that social information use improved with age; however, this improvement was restricted to cases in which the appropriate response was to avoid copying the demonstrator’s selection. In contrast to previous research, appropriate copying responses remained at chance. Possible explanations for this unexpected pattern of results are discussed. The cognitive challenge associated with the ability to account for others’ goals could offer humans a significant advantage over that of other animals in their ability to use social information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten H Blakey
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK.
| | - Mark Atkinson
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Eva Rafetseder
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Elizabeth Renner
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Christine A Caldwell
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
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Group size and modularity interact to shape the spread of infection and information through animal societies. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021; 75:163. [PMID: 34866760 PMCID: PMC8626757 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-03102-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Social interactions between animals can provide many benefits, including the ability to gain useful environmental information through social learning. However, these social contacts can also facilitate the transmission of infectious diseases through a population. Animals engaging in social interactions therefore face a trade-off between the potential informational benefits and the risk of acquiring disease. Theoretical models have suggested that modular social networks, associated with the formation of groups or sub-groups, can slow spread of infection by trapping it within particular groups. However, these social structures will not necessarily impact the spread of information in the same way if its transmission follows a “complex contagion”, e.g. through individuals disproportionally copying the majority (conformist learning). Here we use simulation models to demonstrate that modular networks can promote the spread of information relative to the spread of infection, but only when the network is fragmented and group sizes are small. We show that the difference in transmission between information and disease is maximised for more well-connected social networks when the likelihood of transmission is intermediate. Our results have important implications for understanding the selective pressures operating on the social structure of animal societies, revealing that highly fragmented networks such as those formed in fission–fusion social groups and multilevel societies can be effective in modulating the infection-information trade-off for individuals within them.
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Norman M, Rowden LJ, Cowlishaw G. Potential applications of personality assessments to the management of non-human primates: a review of 10 years of study. PeerJ 2021; 9:e12044. [PMID: 34589296 PMCID: PMC8432321 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of primate personality have become increasingly common over the past three decades. Recently, studies have begun to focus on the health, welfare and conservation implications of personality, and the potential applications of incorporating quantitative personality assessments into animal management programmes. However, this literature is dispersed across a multitude of settings and scientific disciplines. We conducted a review of nonhuman primate personality studies relevant to these issues published since 2010, following on from an earlier review. The databases ScienceDirect, PubMed and Web of Science were used to identify relevant articles. After eliminating irrelevant or duplicate papers, 69 studies were selected. Our review reveals that, while primate personality research is carried out on a range of species, there is strong taxonomic bias. While 28 species appeared within the reviewed literature, 52% of studies were carried out on just five species. Further, the most common research focus (43%) was validating new assessment methods or describing personality in different species, rather than exploring the links between personality and animal welfare using existing validated methods. However, among the remaining studies that did explore the role of animal personality in husbandry, health, and welfare, we identified progression towards integrating personality data into various aspects of animal management. Evidence suggests the assessment of personality may benefit social group management, enrichment practices, training protocols, health and welfare monitoring, and conservation planning for endangered species. We argue that further research which develops our understanding of primate personality and its influence in these areas will provide a valuable tool to inform animal management practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max Norman
- Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom.,Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Guy Cowlishaw
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom
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Development of strategic social information seeking: Implications for cumulative culture. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0256605. [PMID: 34428243 PMCID: PMC8384161 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Human learners are rarely the passive recipients of valuable social information. Rather, learners usually have to actively seek out information from a variety of potential others to determine who is in a position to provide useful information. Yet, the majority of developmental social learning paradigms do not address participants’ ability to seek out information for themselves. To investigate age-related changes in children’s ability to seek out appropriate social information, 3- to 8-year-olds (N = 218) were presented with a task requiring them to identify which of four possible demonstrators could provide critical information for unlocking a box. Appropriate information seeking improved significantly with age. The particularly high performance of 7- and 8-year-olds was consistent with the expectation that older children’s increased metacognitive understanding would allow them to identify appropriate information sources. Appropriate social information seeking may have been overlooked as a significant cognitive challenge involved in fully benefiting from others’ knowledge, potentially influencing understanding of the phylogenetic distribution of cumulative culture.
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Lewis LS, Kano F, Stevens JMG, DuBois JG, Call J, Krupenye C. Erratum to "Bonobos and chimpanzees preferentially attend to familiar members of the dominant sex" [ Animal Behaviour 177 (2021) 193-206]. Anim Behav 2021. [PMID: 34292277 DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.04.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.04.027.].
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura S Lewis
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.,School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, U.K
| | - Fumihiro Kano
- Kumamoto Sanctuary, Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.,Center for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Jeroen M G Stevens
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Belgium.,Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Jamie G DuBois
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, U.K.,Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K
| | - Josep Call
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, U.K
| | - Christopher Krupenye
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, U.K.,Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.,Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, U.K
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Luna D, González C, Byrd CJ, Palomo R, Huenul E, Figueroa J. The Effect of Demonstrator Social Rank on the Attentiveness and Motivation of Pigs to Positively Interact with Their Human Caretakers. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11072140. [PMID: 34359267 PMCID: PMC8300723 DOI: 10.3390/ani11072140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Revised: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Motivation to express a socially learned behavior can be inhibited or facilitated by the presence of socially dominant individuals, who often attract greater attention from their conspecifics. This study investigated whether experienced pigs (termed “demonstrators”) of higher rank attract greater attention from their pen mates when they are observed from behind an acrylic panel while being gently handled by the stockperson. We also investigated whether the presence of a demonstrator pig of different social rank, who previously established a positive relationship with the stockperson in presence of conspecifics, affects the motivation and behaviors of their pen mates to positively interact with humans. Our results show that during the gentle handling of the demonstrator, there was an overall preference for observer pigs to visually attend to the dominant demonstrators more than the low-ranking demonstrators. Furthermore, our study shows that the proximity of a dominant demonstrator pig interfered with the motivation of their pen mates to positively interact with the stockperson, whereas the presence of a subordinate demonstrator facilitated the expression of a greater affinity toward the human, resulting in longer physical contact, and a higher percentage of accepted strokes. These findings reveal that social dynamics and dominance rank have a strong effect on the attentional state and the facilitation and inhibition of social behaviors in domestic pigs. Abstract In this study, we addressed the social attentiveness, as well as the phenomenon of social facilitation and inhibition in the context of a positive human–pig relationship. Specifically, we investigated whether the social rank of an experienced pig (termed “demonstrator”) has an effect on the attentiveness of the remaining pen mates (N = 40) when they observe the demonstrator being gently handled by a stockperson from behind an acrylic panel. We found that pigs preferentially attended to dominant demonstrators rather than subordinate demonstrators during their gentle handling sessions with the stockperson. Additionally, we also examined whether the presence of a demonstrator pig of different social rank, who previously established a positive relationship with the stockperson in presence of conspecifics, affects the behavior and motivation of their pen mates to positively interact with the stockperson. To test for the effect of the presence and demonstrator’s social rank on pen mate interactions with the stockperson, we evaluated the behavior of domestic pigs (N = 65) toward the stockperson using a human-approach test in their home-pen. Pigs showed a decrease in their motivation to positively interact with the stockperson when a socially dominant demonstrator was present, behaving similarly to animals receiving minimal human contact (control group). Overall, they exhibited a greater latency to physical contact, a lower acceptance of stroking, and spent more time looking at the stockperson compared to pigs exposed to subordinate demonstrators. Taken together, these findings expand our current understanding of pigs’ cognition and social behavior, and the nature of social attention bias in farm animals. Our findings indicate that positive handling of previously selected subordinate demonstrators seems to be the best strategy to reduce the level of fear in large groups of pigs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Luna
- Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile; (D.L.); (C.G.); (E.H.)
| | - Catalina González
- Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile; (D.L.); (C.G.); (E.H.)
| | - Christopher J. Byrd
- Deparment of Animal Sciences, North Dakota State University, NDSU Dept. 7630, P.O. Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050, USA;
| | - Rocío Palomo
- Departamento de Fomento de la Producción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Santa Rosa 11735, La Pintana, Santiago 8820000, Chile;
| | - Elizabeth Huenul
- Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile; (D.L.); (C.G.); (E.H.)
| | - Jaime Figueroa
- Instituto de Ciencias Agroalimentarias, Animales y Ambientales—ICA3, Universidad de O’Higgins, San Fernando 3070000, Chile
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +56-22-3544092
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Birch J, Heyes C. The cultural evolution of cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200051. [PMID: 33993760 PMCID: PMC8126465 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
What makes fast, cumulative cultural evolution work? Where did it come from? Why is it the sole preserve of humans? We set out a self-assembly hypothesis: cultural evolution evolved culturally. We present an evolutionary account that shows this hypothesis to be coherent, plausible, and worthy of further investigation. It has the following steps: (0) in common with other animals, early hominins had significant capacity for social learning; (1) knowledge and skills learned by offspring from their parents began to spread because bearers had more offspring, a process we call CS1 (or Cultural Selection 1); (2) CS1 shaped attentional learning biases; (3) these attentional biases were augmented by explicit learning biases (judgements about what should be copied from whom). Explicit learning biases enabled (4) the high-fidelity, exclusive copying required for fast cultural accumulation of knowledge and skills by a process we call CS2 (or Cultural Selection 2) and (5) the emergence of cognitive processes such as imitation, mindreading and metacognition-'cognitive gadgets' specialized for cultural learning. This self-assembly hypothesis is consistent with archaeological evidence that the stone tools used by early hominins were not dependent on fast, cumulative cultural evolution, and suggests new priorities for research on 'animal culture'. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Birch
- Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK
| | - Cecilia Heyes
- All Souls College and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4AL, UK
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Canteloup C, Cera MB, Barrett BJ, van de Waal E. Processing of novel food reveals payoff and rank-biased social learning in a wild primate. Sci Rep 2021; 11:9550. [PMID: 34006940 PMCID: PMC8131368 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88857-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning—learning from others—is the basis for behavioural traditions. Different social learning strategies (SLS), where individuals biasedly learn behaviours based on their content or who demonstrates them, may increase an individual’s fitness and generate behavioural traditions. While SLS have been mostly studied in isolation, their interaction and the interplay between individual and social learning is less understood. We performed a field-based open diffusion experiment in a wild primate. We provided two groups of vervet monkeys with a novel food, unshelled peanuts, and documented how three different peanut opening techniques spread within the groups. We analysed data using hierarchical Bayesian dynamic learning models that explore the integration of multiple SLS with individual learning. We (1) report evidence of social learning compared to strictly individual learning, (2) show that vervets preferentially socially learn the technique that yields the highest observed payoff and (3) also bias attention toward individuals of higher rank. This shows that behavioural preferences can arise when individuals integrate social information about the efficiency of a behaviour alongside cues related to the rank of a demonstrator. When these preferences converge to the same behaviour in a group, they may result in stable behavioural traditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Canteloup
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, 3115, South Africa. .,Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Mabia B Cera
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, 3115, South Africa
| | - Brendan J Barrett
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour, Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.,Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology, and Culture, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Erica van de Waal
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, 3115, South Africa.,Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
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39
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Vale GL, McGuigan N, Burdett E, Lambeth SP, Lucas A, Rawlings B, Schapiro SJ, Watson SK, Whiten A. Why do chimpanzees have diverse behavioral repertoires yet lack more complex cultures? Invention and social information use in a cumulative task. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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40
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Leveraging Social Learning to Enhance Captive Animal Care and Welfare. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/jzbg2010003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
From ants to zebras, animals are influenced by the behavior of others. At the simplest level, social support can reduce neophobia, increasing animals’ exploration of novel spaces, foods, and other environmental stimuli. Animals can also learn new skills more quickly and more readily after observing others perform them. How then can we apply animals’ proclivity to socially learn to enhance their care and welfare in captive settings? Here, I review the ways in which animals (selectively) use social information, and propose tactics for leveraging that to refine the behavioral management of captive animals: to enhance socialization techniques, enrichment strategies, and training outcomes. It is also important to consider, however, that social learning does not always promote the uniform expression of new behaviors. There are differences in animals’ likelihood to seek out or use socially provided information, driven by characteristics such as species, rank, age, and personality. Additionally, social learning can result in inexact transmission or the transmission of undesirable behaviors. Thus, understanding when, how, and why animals use social information is key to developing effective strategies to improve how we care for animals across settings and, ultimately, enhance captive animal welfare.
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41
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van Boekholt B, van de Waal E, Sterck EH. Organized to learn: the influence of social structure on social learning opportunities in a group. iScience 2021; 24:102117. [PMID: 33659880 PMCID: PMC7890404 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning, which is a mechanism that allows an individual to acquire skills from other individuals, occurs in a social context. Therefore, factors that influence social context, like social structure, will impact social learning opportunities. This review explores how features of social structure affect social learning opportunities in primates, either through their relationship with social tolerance or through the number of social learning models. Features that are investigated in this review and that we hypothesize affect social learning opportunities are parental investment, dominance hierarchy, nepotism, social bonds, dispersal, group size, fission-fusion dynamics, and sex ratio. For most of these features we find evidence, but support varies. Of all primate species, only humans show all the requirements of an optimal social structure to promote social learning. Future research into social learning and culture should not overlook the social context in which it takes place.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bas van Boekholt
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3584CH The Netherlands
- Department of Comparative Biocognition, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, 49074, Germany
| | - Erica van de Waal
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
| | - Elisabeth H.M. Sterck
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3584CH The Netherlands
- Animal Science Department, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Rijswijk, 2288GJ, the Netherlands
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Luna D, González C, Byrd CJ, Palomo R, Huenul E, Figueroa J. Do Domestic Pigs Acquire a Positive Perception of Humans through Observational Social Learning? Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:E127. [PMID: 33430048 PMCID: PMC7826731 DOI: 10.3390/ani11010127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2020] [Revised: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Farm animals can perceive humans positively by observing another animal being positively handled. This study evaluated whether pigs acquire a positive perception of humans after observing either a high or low socially ranked conspecific receiving gentle handling. Seventy-five 21-week-old pigs were housed in 15 nursery pens (five pigs/pen) and randomly assigned to one of three pen treatments: Dominant Demonstrator Group (DDG), Subordinate Demonstrator Group (SDG) and Control Group (CG). Pigs from DDG and SDG observed a high and low socially ranked conspecific ("demonstrator"), respectively, while the demonstrator received gentle stroking and a sucrose solution for 10 min, twice a day for 5 weeks. Control group pigs received minimal human contact. Following treatment, the behavior and heart rate variability of non-demonstrator pigs were evaluated in response to a stockperson in an open-field test. Pigs from the DDG and SDG contacted the stockperson sooner (p < 0.001), spent more time investigating the stockperson (p < 0.05), accepted more stroking (p < 0.001) and exhibited a lower low/high frequency ratio (p = 0.015) compared to the CG. No differences in learning between the pigs from the DDG and SDG were found. These results suggest that pigs can learn to perceive humans positively through observational social learning, regardless of the demonstrator conspecific's social rank.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Luna
- Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago 7820436, Chile; (D.L.); (C.G.); (E.H.)
| | - Catalina González
- Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago 7820436, Chile; (D.L.); (C.G.); (E.H.)
| | - Christopher J. Byrd
- Deparment of Animal Sciences, North Dakota State University, NDSU Dept. 7630, P.O. Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050, USA;
| | - Rocío Palomo
- Departamento de Fomento de la Producción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Santa Rosa 11735, La Pintana, Santiago 8820808, Chile;
| | - Elizabeth Huenul
- Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago 7820436, Chile; (D.L.); (C.G.); (E.H.)
| | - Jaime Figueroa
- Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago 7820436, Chile; (D.L.); (C.G.); (E.H.)
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Osiurak F, Cretel C, Duhau-Marmon N, Fournier I, Marignier L, De Oliveira E, Navarro J, Reynaud E. The Pedagogue, the Engineer, and the Friend : From Whom Do We Learn? HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2020; 31:462-482. [PMID: 33420606 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-020-09379-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/06/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Humans can follow different social learning strategies, sometimes oriented toward the models' characteristics (i.e., who-strategies). The goal of the present study was to explore which who-strategy is preferentially followed in the technological context based on the models' psychological characteristics. We identified three potential who-strategies: Copy the pedagogue (a model with high theory-of-mind skills), copy the engineer (a model with high technical-reasoning skills), and copy the friend (a model with high level of prosocialness). We developed a closed-group micro-society paradigm in which participants had to build the highest possible towers. Participants began with an individual building phase. Then, they were gathered to discuss the best solutions to increase tower height. After this discussion phase, they had to make a new building attempt, followed by another discussion phase, and so forth for a total of six building phases and five discussion rounds. This methodology allowed us to create an attraction score for each participant (the more an individual was copied in a group, the greater the attraction score). We also assessed participants' theory-of-mind skills, technical-reasoning skills, and prosocialness to predict participants' attraction scores based on these measures. Results show that we learn from engineers (high technical-reasoning skills) because they are the most successful. Their attraction power is not immediate, but after they have been identified as attractors, their technique is copied irrespective of their pedagogy (theory-of-mind skills) or friendliness (prosocialness). These findings open avenues for the study of the cognitive bases of human technological culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- François Osiurak
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France.
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
| | - Caroline Cretel
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Naomi Duhau-Marmon
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Isabelle Fournier
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Lucie Marignier
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Emmanuel De Oliveira
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Jordan Navarro
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Emanuelle Reynaud
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France
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Morinay J, Cauchard L, Bize P, Doligez B. The Role of Cognition in Social Information Use for Breeding Site Selection: Experimental Evidence in a Wild Passerine Population. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.559690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In spatio-temporally variable environments, individuals are known to use information for making optimal decisions regarding where and when to breed. Optimal decision making can be complex when relying on multiple information sources with varying levels of reliability and accessibility. To deal with such complexity, different cognitive abilities such as learning and memory might enable individuals to optimally process and use these information sources. Yet, the link between information use and cognitive ability remains unexplored in natural populations. We investigated whether learning performance on a problem-solving task was related to the use of an experimentally manipulated source of social information for nest site selection in wild collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). Collared flycatchers are known to use heterospecific information from their main competitors, the great tits (Parus major). Here, we created a local apparent preference by tits for an artificial nest site feature (a geometric symbol attached to nest boxes occupied by tits) and recorded whether flycatcher pairs chose to settle in nest boxes displaying the same feature as tits (i.e., copied tit apparent preference). Using a problem-solving task requiring opening a door temporarily blocking the nest box entrance, we then measured flycatchers' learning performance during nestling rearing as the number of entrances required to solve the task and enter the nest box twice in a row below a given efficiency threshold. We found that the probability to copy tit preference decreased with decreasing learning performance in females, particularly yearling ones: fast learning females copied tit preference, while slow learning ones rejected it. Male learning performance did not affect copying behavior. Our results showed that learning performance might play an important role in the ability to optimally use information for nest site selection in females: both fast and slow learning females could process this heterospecific information source but used it differently. This could partly explain the link between cognitive abilities and reproductive success reported in previous studies. Whether cognitive abilities may modulate condition-dependent costs of using different information remains to be explored.
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Romero-González JE, Royka AL, MaBouDi H, Solvi C, Seppänen JT, Loukola OJ. Foraging Bumblebees Selectively Attend to Other Types of Bees Based on Their Reward-Predictive Value. INSECTS 2020; 11:insects11110800. [PMID: 33202846 PMCID: PMC7697648 DOI: 10.3390/insects11110800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Revised: 11/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Using social information can be an efficient strategy for learning in a new environment while reducing the risks associated with trial-and-error learning. Whereas social information from conspecifics has long been assumed to be preferentially attended by animals, heterospecifics can also provide relevant information. Because different species may vary in their informative value, using heterospecific social information indiscriminately can be ineffective and even detrimental. Here, we evaluated how selective use of social information might arise at a proximate level in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) as a result of experience with demonstrators differing in their visual appearance and in their informative value as reward predictors. Bumblebees were first trained to discriminate rewarding from unrewarding flowers based on which type of "heterospecific" (one of two differently painted model bees) was next to each flower. Subsequently, these bumblebees were exposed to a novel foraging context with two live painted bees. In this novel context, observer bumblebees showed significantly more social information-seeking behavior towards the type of bees that had predicted reward during training. Bumblebees were not attracted by paint-marked small wooden balls (moved via magnets) or paint-marked non-pollinating heterospecifics (woodlice; Porcellio laevis) in the novel context, indicating that bees did not simply respond to conditioned color cues nor to irrelevant social cues, but rather had a "search image" of what previously constituted a valuable, versus invaluable, information provider. The behavior of our bumblebees suggests that their use of social information is governed by learning, is selective, and extends beyond conspecifics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose E. Romero-González
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK; (J.E.R.-G.); (A.L.R.); (H.M.); (C.S.)
| | - Amanda L. Royka
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK; (J.E.R.-G.); (A.L.R.); (H.M.); (C.S.)
| | - HaDi MaBouDi
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK; (J.E.R.-G.); (A.L.R.); (H.M.); (C.S.)
- Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DP, UK
| | - Cwyn Solvi
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK; (J.E.R.-G.); (A.L.R.); (H.M.); (C.S.)
| | - Janne-Tuomas Seppänen
- Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland;
| | - Olli J. Loukola
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK; (J.E.R.-G.); (A.L.R.); (H.M.); (C.S.)
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, 90014 Oulu, Finland
- Correspondence:
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Cantor M, Maldonado‐Chaparro AA, Beck KB, Brandl HB, Carter GG, He P, Hillemann F, Klarevas‐Irby JA, Ogino M, Papageorgiou D, Prox L, Farine DR. The importance of individual‐to‐society feedbacks in animal ecology and evolution. J Anim Ecol 2020; 90:27-44. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maurício Cantor
- Department of Collective Behaviour Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Florianópolis Brazil
- Centro de Estudos do Mar Universidade Federal do Paraná Pontal do Paraná Brazil
| | - Adriana A. Maldonado‐Chaparro
- Department of Collective Behaviour Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
| | - Kristina B. Beck
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics Max Planck Institute for Ornithology Seewiesen Germany
| | - Hanja B. Brandl
- Department of Collective Behaviour Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
| | - Gerald G. Carter
- Department of Collective Behaviour Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology The Ohio State University Columbus OH USA
| | - Peng He
- Department of Collective Behaviour Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
| | - Friederike Hillemann
- Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology Department of Zoology University of Oxford Oxford UK
| | - James A. Klarevas‐Irby
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Department of Migration Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Konstanz Germany
| | - Mina Ogino
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
| | - Danai Papageorgiou
- Department of Collective Behaviour Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
| | - Lea Prox
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology Johann‐Friedrich‐Blumenbach Institute of Zoology & Anthropology University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany
- Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology Unit German Primate Center Göttingen Germany
| | - Damien R. Farine
- Department of Collective Behaviour Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
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Bandini E, Tennie C. Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9877. [PMID: 33033659 PMCID: PMC7521350 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal behaviour literature is biased towards a social learning approach, in which animal, and in particular primate, tool-use repertoires are thought to require social learning mechanisms (copying variants of social learning are most often invoked). However, concrete evidence for a widespread dependency on social learning is still lacking. On the other hand, a growing body of observational and experimental data demonstrates that various animal species are capable of acquiring the forms of their tool-use behaviours via individual learning, with (non-copying) social learning regulating the frequencies of the behavioural forms within (and, indirectly, between) groups. As a first outline of the extent of the role of individual learning in animal tool-use, a literature review of reports of the spontaneous acquisition of animal tool-use behaviours was carried out across observational and experimental studies. The results of this review suggest that perhaps due to the pervasive focus on social learning in the literature, accounts of the individual learning of tool-use forms by naïve animals may have been largely overlooked, and their importance under-examined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Bandini
- Department of Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Department of Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Neophobia and social facilitation in narrow-striped mongooses. Anim Cogn 2020; 24:165-175. [PMID: 32955622 PMCID: PMC7829228 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-020-01429-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2019] [Revised: 09/06/2020] [Accepted: 09/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Social learning is widespread in the animal kingdom, but individuals can differ in how they acquire and use social information. Personality traits, such as neophobia, may, for example, promote individual learning strategies. Here, we contribute comparative data on social learning strategies in carnivorans by examining whether narrow-striped mongooses (Mungotictis decemlineata), a group-living Malagasy euplerid, learn socially and whether neophobia influences social learning. To this end, we tested seven wild female groups with a two-option artificial feeding box, using a demonstrator–observer paradigm, and conducted novel object tests to assess neophobia. In five groups, one individual was trained as a demonstrator displaying one of the techniques, whereas the other two groups served as control groups. Neophobia did not co-vary with an individual’s propensity to seek social information. However, less neophobic individuals, and individuals that tended to seek social information, learned the task faster. Moreover, individuals in demonstrator groups learned the task faster than those in groups without a demonstrator and used the demonstrated technique more often. Hence, narrow-striped mongooses rely on social facilitation and local or stimulus enhancement to solve new problems. Finally, our results suggest that several individual characteristics should be taken into consideration to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of social learning strategies.
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Environmental and life history factors, but not age, influence social learning about food: a meta-analysis. Anim Behav 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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Evans JC, Silk MJ, Boogert NJ, Hodgson DJ. Infected or informed? Social structure and the simultaneous transmission of information and infectious disease. OIKOS 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Julian C. Evans
- Dept of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Univ. of Zurich Switzerland
| | - Matthew J. Silk
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Univ. of Exeter Penryn Campus UK
- Environment and Sustainability Inst., Univ. of Exeter Penryn Campus UK
| | | | - David J. Hodgson
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Univ. of Exeter Penryn Campus UK
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