Evolution in leaps: The punctuated accumulation and loss of cultural innovations.

ABSTRACT: Archaeological accounts of cultural change reveal a fundamental conflict: Some suggest that change is gradual, accelerating over time, whereas others indicate that it is punctuated, with long periods of stasis interspersed by sudden gains or losses of multiple traits. Existing models of cultural evolution, inspired by models of genetic evolution, lend support to the former and do not generate trajectories that include large-scale punctuated change. We propose a simple model that can give rise to both exponential and punctuated patterns of gain and loss of cultural traits. In it, cultural innovation comprises several realistic interdependent processes that occur at different rates. The model also takes into account two properties intrinsic to cultural evolution: the differential distributio

SUBMITTER: Kolodny O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4679034 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature