Chimpanzees Use Social Information to Acquire a Skill They Fail to Innovate

Overview

Journal Nat Hum Behav

Specialties Psychology
Social Sciences

Date 2024 Mar 6

PMID 38448718

Authors

Edwin J C van Leeuwen

Sarah E DeTroy

Daniel B M Haun

Josep Call

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Cumulative cultural evolution has been claimed to be a uniquely human phenomenon pivotal to the biological success of our species. One plausible condition for cumulative cultural evolution to emerge is individuals' ability to use social learning to acquire know-how that they cannot easily innovate by themselves. It has been suggested that chimpanzees may be capable of such know-how social learning, but this assertion remains largely untested. Here we show that chimpanzees use social learning to acquire a skill that they failed to independently innovate. By teaching chimpanzees how to solve a sequential task (one chimpanzee in each of the two tested groups, n = 66) and using network-based diffusion analysis, we found that 14 naive chimpanzees learned to operate a puzzle box that they failed to operate during the preceding three months of exposure to all necessary materials. In conjunction, we present evidence for the hypothesis that social learning in chimpanzees is necessary and sufficient to acquire a new, complex skill after the initial innovation.

References

Allen J . Community through Culture: From Insects to Whales: How Social Learning and Culture Manifest across Diverse Animal Communities. Bioessays. 2019; 41(11):e1900060. DOI: 10.1002/bies.201900060. View

Bandini E, Motes-Rodrigo A, Steele M, Rutz C, Tennie C . Examining the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of animal tool behaviour. Biol Lett. 2020; 16(6):20200122. PMC: 7336849. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0122. View

Whiten A . Blind alleys and fruitful pathways in the comparative study of cultural cognition. Phys Life Rev. 2022; 43:211-238. DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2022.10.003. View

van Leeuwen E, Call J, Haun D . Human children rely more on social information than chimpanzees do. Biol Lett. 2014; 10(11):20140487. PMC: 4261851. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0487. View

Wilks C, Rafetseder E, Renner E, Atkinson M, Caldwell C . Cognitive prerequisites for cumulative culture are context-dependent: Children's potential for ratcheting depends on cue longevity. J Exp Child Psychol. 2021; 204:105031. DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105031. View

Nishida T, Matsusaka T, McGrew W . Emergence, propagation or disappearance of novel behavioral patterns in the habituated chimpanzees of Mahale: a review. Primates. 2009; 50(1):23-36. DOI: 10.1007/s10329-008-0109-y. View

Kendal R, Boogert N, Rendell L, Laland K, Webster M, Jones P . Social Learning Strategies: Bridge-Building between Fields. Trends Cogn Sci. 2018; 22(7):651-665. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.04.003. View

Davis S, Vale G, Schapiro S, Lambeth S, Whiten A . Foundations of cumulative culture in apes: improved foraging efficiency through relinquishing and combining witnessed behaviours in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Sci Rep. 2016; 6:35953. PMC: 5075880. DOI: 10.1038/srep35953. View

Whiten A, Spiteri A, Horner V, Bonnie K, Lambeth S, Schapiro S . Transmission of multiple traditions within and between chimpanzee groups. Curr Biol. 2007; 17(12):1038-43. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.05.031. View

10.

Dawson B, FOSS B . Observational learning in budgerigars. Anim Behav. 1965; 13(4):470-4. DOI: 10.1016/0003-3472(65)90108-9. View

11.

Tennie C . Focusing on relevant data and correcting misconceptions reaffirms the ape ZLS: Comment on "Blind alleys and fruitful pathways in the comparative study of cultural cognition" by Andrew Whiten. Phys Life Rev. 2022; 44:94-98. DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2022.12.007. View

12.

Santorelli C, Schaffner C, Campbell C, Notman H, Pavelka M, Weghorst J . Traditions in spider monkeys are biased towards the social domain. PLoS One. 2011; 6(2):e16863. PMC: 3044143. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016863. View

13.

Harrison R, van Leeuwen E, Whiten A . Chimpanzees' behavioral flexibility, social tolerance, and use of tool-composites in a progressively challenging foraging problem. iScience. 2021; 24(2):102033. PMC: 7820130. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102033. View

14.

Dean L, Kendal R, Schapiro S, Thierry B, Laland K . Identification of the social and cognitive processes underlying human cumulative culture. Science. 2012; 335(6072):1114-8. PMC: 4676561. DOI: 10.1126/science.1213969. View

15.

Mesoudi A, Thornton A . What is cumulative cultural evolution?. Proc Biol Sci. 2018; 285(1880). PMC: 6015846. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0712. View

16.

van Leeuwen E, Goldsborough Z . What animal cultures may beget: Comment on "Blind alleys and fruitful pathways in the comparative study of cultural cognition" by Andrew Whiten. Phys Life Rev. 2022; 44:99-101. DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2022.12.010. View

17.

Caldwell C, Millen A . Social learning mechanisms and cumulative cultural evolution. Is imitation necessary?. Psychol Sci. 2009; 20(12):1478-83. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02469.x. View

18.

Horner V, Whiten A . Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens). Anim Cogn. 2004; 8(3):164-81. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-004-0239-6. View

19.

Aplin L, Farine D, Morand-Ferron J, Cockburn A, Thornton A, Sheldon B . Experimentally induced innovations lead to persistent culture via conformity in wild birds. Nature. 2014; 518(7540):538-41. PMC: 4344839. DOI: 10.1038/nature13998. View

20.

Tennie C, Call J, Tomasello M . Ratcheting up the ratchet: on the evolution of cumulative culture. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009; 364(1528):2405-15. PMC: 2865079. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0052. View