Evolution of social learning does not explain the origin of human cumulative culture
Because culture requires transmission of information between individuals, thinking about the origin of culture has mainly focused on the genetic evolution of abilities for social learning. Current theory considers how social learning affects the adaptiveness of a single cultural trait, yet human cul...
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Published in | Journal of theoretical biology Vol. 246; no. 1; pp. 129 - 135 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Elsevier Ltd
07.05.2007
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Because culture requires transmission of information between individuals, thinking about the origin of culture has mainly focused on the genetic evolution of abilities for social learning. Current theory considers how social learning affects the adaptiveness of a single cultural trait, yet human culture consists of the accumulation of very many traits. Here we introduce a new modeling strategy that tracks the adaptive value of many cultural traits, showing that genetic evolution favors only limited social learning owing to the accumulation of maladaptive as well as adaptive culture. We further show that culture can be adaptive, and refined social learning can evolve, if individuals can identify and discard maladaptive culture. This suggests that the evolution of such “adaptive filtering” mechanisms may have been crucial for the birth of human culture. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0022-5193 1095-8541 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jtbi.2006.12.022 |