Cumulative culture in the laboratory: methodological and theoretical challenges.

ABSTRACT: In the last decade, cultural transmission experiments (transmission chains, replacement, closed groups and seeded groups) have become important experimental tools in investigating cultural evolution. However, these methods face important challenges, especially regarding the operationalization of theoretical claims. In this review, we focus on the study of cumulative cultural evolution, the process by which traditions are gradually modified and, for technological traditions in particular, improved upon over time. We identify several mismatches between theoretical definitions of cumulative culture and their implementation in cultural transmission experiments. We argue that observed performance increase can be the result of participants learning faster in a group context rather than effective

SUBMITTER: Miton H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5998114 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature