The evolution of culture: from primate social learning to human culture

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Laureano Castro, Miguel A Toro

Abstract

Cultural transmission in our species works most of the time as a cumulative inheritance system allowing members of a group to incorporate behavioral features not only with a positive biological value but sometimes also with a neutral, or even negative, biological value. Most of models of dual inheritance theory and gene-culture coevolution suggest that an increase, either qualitative or quantitative, in the efficiency of imitation is the key factor to explain the transformation of primate social learning in a cumulative cultural system of inheritance as it happens during hominization. We contend that more efficient imitation is necessary but not enough for this transformation to occur and that the key factor enabling such a transformation is that some hominids developed the capacity to approve or disapprove their offspring's learned behavior. This capacity to approve or disapprove offspring's behavior makes learning both less costly and more accurate, and it transformed the hominid culture into a system of cumulative cultural inheritance similar to that of humans, although the system was still prelinguistic in nature.

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Citations

Aug 7, 2012·Theory in Biosciences = Theorie in Den Biowissenschaften·Laureano Castro, Miguel A Toro
Jul 20, 2006·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Jonathan Williams, Eric Taylor
Jul 1, 2011·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Heather N CornellShannon Pecoraro
Jan 27, 2007·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Kim Sterelny
Jun 19, 2007·Neurobiology of Learning and Memory·Martine MeunierDriss Boussaoud
Dec 13, 2006·Theoretical Population Biology·Laureano Castro, Miguel A Toro
Apr 30, 2015·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·Eric SchniterPaul L Hooper
Jul 1, 2008·NeuroImage·Elisabetta MonfardiniBruno Wicker
Jan 18, 2014·Journal of Theoretical Biology·Laureano Castro, Miguel A Toro
Jun 2, 2017·Human Nature : an Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective·Adam H Boyette, Barry S Hewlett
Aug 22, 2017·Psychological Science·Derek PowellKeith J Holyoak
Nov 1, 2012·Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science·Bennett G Galef
Jan 15, 2015·Nature Communications·T J H MorganK N Laland
Apr 30, 2016·Die Naturwissenschaften·Marc A Seid, Erich Junge
Feb 15, 2018·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Noa Truskanov, Yosef Prat
Jun 13, 2015·Royal Society Open Science·Alecia J CarterGuy Cowlishaw
Apr 9, 2019·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Shinnosuke NakayamaMaurizio Porfiri
Jun 2, 2020·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Michael D GurvenThomas S Kraft
Apr 14, 2016·ELife·Carol Berman
Jan 10, 2017·The Spanish Journal of Psychology·Kevin N Laland
Apr 13, 2021·Frontiers in Robotics and AI·Juana Valeria HurtadoAbhinav Valada

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