dc.contributor.author | Lucas, AJ | |
dc.contributor.author | Kings, M | |
dc.contributor.author | Whittle, D | |
dc.contributor.author | Davey, E | |
dc.contributor.author | Happé, F | |
dc.contributor.author | Caldwell, CA | |
dc.contributor.author | Thornton, A | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2020-11-18T14:13:05Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2020-11-18 | |
dc.description.abstract | Human cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) is recognized as a powerful ecological and evolutionary force, but its origins are poorly understood. The long-standing view that CCE requires specialized social learning processes such as teaching has recently come under question, and cannot explain why such processes evolved in the first place. An alternative, but largely untested, hypothesis is that these processes gradually coevolved with an increasing reliance on complex tools. To address this, we used large-scale transmission chain experiments (624 participants), to examine the role of different learning processes in generating cumulative improvements in two tool types of differing complexity. Both tool types increased in efficacy across experimental generations, but teaching only provided an advantage for the more complex tools. Moreover, while the simple tools tended to converge on a common design, the more complex tools maintained a diversity of designs. These findings indicate that the emergence of cumulative culture is not strictly dependent on, but may generate selection for, teaching. As reliance on increasingly complex tools grew, so too would selection for teaching, facilitating the increasingly open-ended evolution of cultural artefacts. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Vol. 287, No. 1939, article 20201885 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1098/rspb.2020.1885 | |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | ES/M006042/1 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/123678 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | Royal Societ | en_GB |
dc.rights | © 2020 The Author(s).
Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. | en_GB |
dc.subject | tool-making | en_GB |
dc.subject | social learning | en_GB |
dc.subject | teaching | en_GB |
dc.subject | coevolution | en_GB |
dc.subject | cumulative cultural evolution | en_GB |
dc.title | The value of teaching increases with tool complexity in cumulative cultural evolution | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2020-11-18T14:13:05Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0962-8452 | |
exeter.article-number | 20201885 | en_GB |
dc.description | This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from The Royal Society via the DOI in this record | en_GB |
dc.identifier.eissn | 1471-2954 | |
dc.identifier.journal | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | en_GB |
dc.rights.uri | http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved | en_GB |
dcterms.dateAccepted | 2020-10-23 | |
exeter.funder | ::Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) | en_GB |
rioxxterms.version | AM | en_GB |
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate | 2020-11-18 | |
rioxxterms.type | Journal Article/Review | en_GB |
refterms.dateFCD | 2020-11-18T11:06:57Z | |
refterms.versionFCD | AM | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2020-11-18T14:13:14Z | |
refterms.panel | A | en_GB |