Competition for resources can explain patterns of social and individual learning in nature.

ABSTRACT: In nature, animals often ignore socially available information despite the multiple theoretical benefits of social learning over individual trial-and-error learning. Using information filtered by others is quicker, more efficient and less risky than randomly sampling the environment. To explain the mix of social and individual learning used by animals in nature, most models penalize the quality of socially derived information as either out of date, of poor fidelity or costly to acquire. Competition for limited resources, a fundamental evolutionary force, provides a compelling, yet hitherto overlooked, explanation for the evolution of mixed-learning strategies. We present a novel model of social learning that incorporates competition and demonstrates that (i) social learning is favoured whe

SUBMITTER: Smolla M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4614750 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature