Competition for resources can promote the divergence of social learning phenotypes.

ABSTRACT: Social learning occurs when animals acquire knowledge or skills by observing or interacting with others and is the fundamental building block of culture. Within populations, some individuals use social learning more frequently than others, but why social learning phenotypes differ among individuals is poorly understood. We modelled the evolution of social learning frequency in a system where foragers compete for resources, and there are many different foraging options to learn about. Social learning phenotypes diverged when some options offered much better rewards than others and expected rewards changed moderately quickly over time. When options offered similar rewards or when rewards changed slowly, a single social learning phenotype evolved. This held for fixed and simple conditional so

SUBMITTER: Gilman RT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7062025 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature