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Borg JM, Buskell A, Kapitany R, Powers ST, Reindl E, Tennie C. Evolved Open-Endedness in Cultural Evolution: A New Dimension in Open-Ended Evolution Research. ARTIFICIAL LIFE 2024; 30:417-438. [PMID: 37253238 DOI: 10.1162/artl_a_00406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
The goal of Artificial Life research, as articulated by Chris Langton, is "to contribute to theoretical biology by locating life-as-we-know-it within the larger picture of life-as-it-could-be." The study and pursuit of open-ended evolution in artificial evolutionary systems exemplify this goal. However, open-ended evolution research is hampered by two fundamental issues: the struggle to replicate open-endedness in an artificial evolutionary system and our assumption that we only have one system (genetic evolution) from which to draw inspiration. We argue not only that cultural evolution should be seen as another real-world example of an open-ended evolutionary system but that the unique qualities seen in cultural evolution provide us with a new perspective from which we can assess the fundamental properties of, and ask new questions about, open-ended evolutionary systems, especially with regard to evolved open-endedness and transitions from bounded to unbounded evolution. Here we provide an overview of culture as an evolutionary system, highlight the interesting case of human cultural evolution as an open-ended evolutionary system, and contextualize cultural evolution by developing a new framework of (evolved) open-ended evolution. We go on to provide a set of new questions that can be asked once we consider cultural evolution within the framework of open-ended evolution and introduce new insights that we may be able to gain about evolved open-endedness as a result of asking these questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M Borg
- Aston University School of Informatics and Digital Engineering.
| | | | - Rohan Kapitany
- Keele University School of Psychology University of Oxford School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography
| | | | - Eva Reindl
- Durham University Department of Anthropology University of St. Andrews School of Psychology and Neuroscience
| | - Claudio Tennie
- University of Tübingen Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology
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2
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Rabb N, Sloman SA. Radical Collective Intelligence and the Reimagining of Cognitive Science. Top Cogn Sci 2024; 16:164-174. [PMID: 38471027 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
To introduce our special issue How Minds Work: The Collective in the Individual, we propose "radical CI," a form of collective intelligence, as a new paradigm for cognitive science. Radical CI posits that the representations and processes necessary to perform the cognitive functions that humans perform are collective entities, not encapsulated by any individual. To explain cognitive performance, it appeals to the distribution of cognitive labor on the assumption that the human project runs on countless interactions between locally acting individuals with specialized skills that each retain a small part of the relevant information. Some of the papers in the special issue appeal to radical CI to account for a variety of cognitive phenomena including memory performance, metacognition, belief updating, reasoning, and problem-solving. Other papers focus on the cultural and institutional practices that make radical CI possible.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Steven A Sloman
- Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences, Brown University
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Varallyay A, Beller N, Subiaul F. Generative cultural learning in children and adults: the role of compositionality and generativity in cultural evolution. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222418. [PMID: 37122258 PMCID: PMC10130722 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2418] [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: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Are human cultures distinctively cumulative because they are uniquely compositional? We addressed this question using a summative learning paradigm where participants saw different models build different tower elements, consisting of discrete actions and objects: stacking cubes (tower base) and linking squares (tower apex). These elements could be combined to form a tower that was optimal in terms of height and structural soundness. In addition to measuring copying fidelity, we explored whether children and adults (i) extended the knowledge demonstrated to additional tower elements and (ii) productively combined them. Results showed that children and adults copied observed demonstrations and applied them to novel exemplars. However, only adults in the imitation condition combined the two newly derived base and apex, relative to adults in a control group. Nonetheless, there were remarkable similarities between children's and adults' performance across measures. Composite measures capturing errors and overall generativity in children's and adults' performance produced few population by condition interactions. Results suggest that early in development, humans possess a suite of cognitive skills-compositionality and generativity-that transforms phylogenetically widespread social learning competencies into something that may be unique to our species, cultural learning; allowing human cultures to evolve towards greater complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Varallyay
- The Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nathalia Beller
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Francys Subiaul
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
- Department of Anthropology, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
- Mind-Brain Institute, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
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Papadopoulou M, Fürtbauer I, O'Bryan LR, Garnier S, Georgopoulou DG, Bracken AM, Christensen C, King AJ. Dynamics of collective motion across time and species. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220068. [PMID: 36802781 PMCID: PMC9939269 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 02/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Most studies of collective animal behaviour rely on short-term observations, and comparisons of collective behaviour across different species and contexts are rare. We therefore have a limited understanding of intra- and interspecific variation in collective behaviour over time, which is crucial if we are to understand the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape collective behaviour. Here, we study the collective motion of four species: shoals of stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus), flocks of homing pigeons (Columba livia), a herd of goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) and a troop of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). First, we describe how local patterns (inter-neighbour distances and positions), and group patterns (group shape, speed and polarization) during collective motion differ across each system. Based on these, we place data from each species within a 'swarm space', affording comparisons and generating predictions about the collective motion across species and contexts. We encourage researchers to add their own data to update the 'swarm space' for future comparative work. Second, we investigate intraspecific variation in collective motion over time and provide guidance for researchers on when observations made over different time scales can result in confident inferences regarding species collective motion. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Collective behaviour through time'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Papadopoulou
- Biosciences, School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, SA2 8PP Swansea, UK
| | - Ines Fürtbauer
- Biosciences, School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, SA2 8PP Swansea, UK
| | - Lisa R. O'Bryan
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Simon Garnier
- Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | - Dimitra G. Georgopoulou
- Biosciences, School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, SA2 8PP Swansea, UK
- Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology & Aquaculture, HCMR, 71500 Hersonissos, Crete, Greece
| | - Anna M. Bracken
- Biosciences, School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, SA2 8PP Swansea, UK
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, Graham Kerr Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Charlotte Christensen
- Biosciences, School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, SA2 8PP Swansea, UK
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Andrew J. King
- Biosciences, School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, SA2 8PP Swansea, UK
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Lamm E, Finkel M, Kolodny O. Human major transitions from the perspective of distributed adaptations. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210401. [PMID: 36688390 PMCID: PMC9869454 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Distributed adaptations are cases in which adaptation is dependent on the population as a whole: the adaptation is conferred by a structural or compositional aspect of the population; the adaptively relevant information cannot be reduced to information possessed by a single individual. Possible examples of human-distributed adaptations are song lines, traditions, trail systems, game drive lanes and systems of water collection and irrigation. Here we discuss the possible role of distributed adaptations in human cultural macro-evolution. Several kinds of human-distributed adaptations are presented, and their evolutionary implications are highlighted. In particular, we discuss the implications of population size, density and bottlenecks on the distributed adaptations that a population may possess and how they in turn would affect the population's resilience to ecological change. We discuss the implications that distributed adaptations may have for human collective action and the possibility that they played a role in colonization of new areas and niches, in seasonal migration, and in setting constraints for minimal inter-population connectivity. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehud Lamm
- The Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Meir Finkel
- The Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Oren Kolodny
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Institute for Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
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Mercado E. On the right way to crack nuts and farm fruit: Commentary on "Blind alleys and fruitful pathways in the comparative study of cultural cognition" by Whiten (2022). Phys Life Rev 2023; 44:137-140. [PMID: 36640587 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2022.12.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo Mercado
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, United States.
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Sehner S, Burkart JM. Cumulative Culture. ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ENTWICKLUNGSPSYCHOLOGIE UND PADAGOGISCHE PSYCHOLOGIE 2023. [DOI: 10.1026/0049-8637/a000268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
Abstract: Although the spread of innovations through social learning is well documented in animals, resulting animal cultures have remained simple without an increase in complexity over time. Human culture, in contrast, evolves constantly and is unparalleled in terms of complexity and diversity. Why only human culture is cumulative is the subject of ongoing debates, but the most prevalent suggestions are that animals lack high-fidelity transmission and complex innovations. This article examines how the combination of two factors may have helped humans overcome these limitations: first, our having a big brain, inherited from our great-ape-like ancestors; second, our reliance on extensive allomaternal care that evolved convergently with other cooperatively breeding species. We provide support for this suggestion with recent evidence from cooperatively breeding common marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus), showing that motivation for cooperation can trump intelligence when it comes to solving problems and information transmission to the next generation.
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Vale GL, Coughlin C, Brosnan SF. The importance of thinking about the future in culture and cumulative cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210349. [PMID: 36314144 PMCID: PMC9620744 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Thinking about possibilities plays a critical role in the choices humans make throughout their lives. Despite this, the influence of individuals' ability to consider what is possible on culture has been largely overlooked. We propose that the ability to reason about future possibilities or prospective cognition, has consequences for cultural change, possibly facilitating the process of cumulative cultural evolution. In particular, by considering potential future costs and benefits of specific behaviours, prospective cognition may lead to a more flexible use of cultural behaviours. In species with limited planning abilities, this may lead to the development of cultures that promote behaviours with future benefits, circumventing this limitation. Here, we examine these ideas from a comparative perspective, considering the relationship between human and nonhuman assessments of future possibilities and their cultural capacity to invent new solutions and improve them over time. Given the methodological difficulties of assessing prospective cognition across species, we focus on planning, for which we have the most data in other species. Elucidating the role of prospective cognition in culture will help us understand the variability in when and how we see culture expressed, informing ongoing debates, such as that surrounding which social learning mechanisms underlie culture. This article is part of the theme issue 'Thinking about possibilities: mechanisms, ontogeny, functions and phylogeny'.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. L. Vale
- Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL 60614, USA
- Department of Psychology, Language Research Center, Neuroscience Institute and Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA
| | - C. Coughlin
- Center for Learning and Memory, University of Texas at Austin, 100 East 24th Street, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - S. F. Brosnan
- Department of Psychology, Language Research Center, Neuroscience Institute and Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA
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Sehner S, Willems EP, Vinicus L, Migliano AB, van Schaik CP, Burkart JM. Problem-solving in groups of common marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus): more than the sum of its parts. PNAS NEXUS 2022; 1:pgac168. [PMID: 36714869 PMCID: PMC9802434 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Human hypercooperativity and the emergence of division of labor enables us to solve problems not only effectively within a group but also collectively. Collective problem-solving occurs when groups perform better than the additive performance of separate individuals. Currently, it is unknown whether this is unique to humans. To investigate the evolutionary origin of collective problem-solving and potential precursors, we propose a continuum of group effects on problem-solving, from simple to complex ones, eventually culminating in collective problem-solving. We tested captive common marmosets with a series of problem-solving tasks, either alone or in a group. To test whether the performance of a group was more than the sum of its parts, we compared real groups to virtual groups (pooled scores of animals tested alone). Marmosets in real groups were both more likely to solve problems than marmosets within the virtual groups and to do so faster. Although individuals within real groups approached the problem faster, a reduction in neophobia was not sufficient to explain the greater success. Success within real groups arose because animals showed higher perseverance, especially after a fellow group member had found the solution in complex tasks. These results are consistent with the idea that group problem-solving evolved alongside a continuum, with performance improving beyond baseline as societies move from social tolerance to opportunities for diffusion of information to active exchange of information. We suggest that increasing interdependence and the adoption of cooperative breeding pushed our ancestors up this scale.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Erik P Willems
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lucio Vinicus
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andrea B Migliano
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Carel P van Schaik
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Affolternstrasse 56, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Judith M Burkart
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Affolternstrasse 56, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
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Whiten A, Harrison RA, McGuigan N, Vale GL, Watson SK. Collective knowledge and the dynamics of culture in chimpanzees. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200321. [PMID: 34894742 PMCID: PMC8666901 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0321] [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: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning in non-human primates has been studied experimentally for over 120 years, yet until the present century this was limited to what one individual learns from a single other. Evidence of group-wide traditions in the wild then highlighted the collective context for social learning, and broader 'diffusion experiments' have since demonstrated transmission at the community level. In the present article, we describe and set in comparative perspective three strands of our recent research that further explore the collective dimensions of culture and cumulative culture in chimpanzees. First, exposing small communities of chimpanzees to contexts incorporating increasingly challenging, but more rewarding tool use opportunities revealed solutions arising through the combination of different individuals' discoveries, spreading to become shared innovations. The second series of experiments yielded evidence of conformist changes from habitual techniques to alternatives displayed by a unanimous majority of others but implicating a form of quorum decision-making. Third, we found that between-group differences in social tolerance were associated with differential success in developing more complex tool use to exploit an increasingly inaccessible resource. We discuss the implications of this array of findings in the wider context of related studies of humans, other primates and non-primate species. 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)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Rachel A. Harrison
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Nicola McGuigan
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
- School of Education and Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, UK
| | - Gillian L. Vale
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
- Lester E Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Stuart K. Watson
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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