| Records |
| Author |
Whiten, A.; van Schaik, C.P. |
| Title |
The evolution of animal 'cultures' and social intelligence |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci |
| Volume |
362 |
Issue  |
1480 |
Pages |
603-620 |
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| Abstract |
Decades-long field research has flowered into integrative studies that, together with experimental evidence for the requisite social learning capacities, have indicated a reliance on multiple traditions ('cultures') in a small number of species. It is increasingly evident that there is great variation in manifestations of social learning, tradition and culture among species, offering much scope for evolutionary analysis. Social learning has been identified in a range of vertebrate and invertebrate species, yet sustained traditions appear rarer, and the multiple traditions we call cultures are rarer still. Here, we examine relationships between this variation and both social intelligence-sophisticated information processing adapted to the social domain-and encephalization. First, we consider whether culture offers one particular confirmation of the social ('Machiavellian') intelligence hypothesis that certain kinds of social life (here, culture) select for intelligence: 'you need to be smart to sustain culture'. Phylogenetic comparisons, particularly focusing on our own study animals, the great apes, support this, but we also highlight some paradoxes in a broader taxonomic survey. Second, we use intraspecific variation to address the converse hypothesis that 'culture makes you smart', concluding that recent evidence for both chimpanzees and orang-utans support this proposition. |
| Address |
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK |
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English |
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0962-8436 |
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| Notes |
PMID:17255007 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
729 |
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| Author |
Bonnie, K.E.; Horner, V.; Whiten, A.; de Waal, F.B.M. |
| Title |
Spread of arbitrary conventions among chimpanzees: a controlled experiment |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
| Volume |
274 |
Issue |
1608 |
Pages |
367-372 |
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| Abstract |
Wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have a rich cultural repertoire--traditions common in some communities are not present in others. The majority of reports describe functional, material traditions, such as tool use. Arbitrary conventions have received far less attention. In the same way that observations of material culture in wild apes led to experiments to confirm social transmission and identify underlying learning mechanisms, experiments investigating how arbitrary habits or conventions arise and spread within a group are also required. The few relevant experimental studies reported thus far have relied on cross-species (i.e. human-ape) interaction offering limited ecological validity, and no study has successfully generated a tradition not involving tool use in an established group. We seeded one of two rewarded alternative endpoints to a complex sequence of behaviour in each of two chimpanzee groups. Each sequence spread in the group in which it was seeded, with many individuals unambiguously adopting the sequence demonstrated by a group member. In one group, the alternative sequence was discovered by a low ranking female, but was not learned by others. Since the action-sequences lacked meaning before the experiment and had no logical connection with reward, chimpanzees must have extracted both the form and benefits of these sequences through observation of others. |
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Living Links, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA. kebonni@emory.edu |
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0962-8452 |
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PMID:17164200 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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157 |
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| Author |
Caldwell, C.A.; Whiten, A. |
| Title |
Testing for social learning and imitation in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, using an artificial fruit |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
7 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
77-85 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; Callithrix/*psychology; Discrimination Learning; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Food Preferences; Fruit; *Imitative Behavior; Male; *Social Behavior; Social Environment |
| Abstract |
We tested for social learning and imitation in common marmosets using an artificial foraging task and trained conspecific demonstrators. We trained a demonstrator marmoset to open an artificial fruit, providing a full demonstration of the task to be learned. Another marmoset provided a partial demonstration, controlling for stimulus enhancement effects, by eating food from the outside of the apparatus. We thus compared three observer groups, each consisting of four animals: those that received the full demonstration, those that received the partial demonstration, and a control group that saw no demonstration prior to testing. Although none of the observer marmosets succeeded in opening the artificial fruit during the test periods, there were clear effects of demonstration type. Those that saw the full demonstration manipulated the apparatus more overall, whereas those from the control group manipulated it the least of the three groups. Those from the full-demonstration group also contacted the particular parts of the artificial fruit that they had seen touched (localised stimulus enhancement) to a greater extent than the other two groups. There was also an interaction between the number of hand and mouth touches made to the artificial fruit for the full- and partial-demonstration groups. Whether or not these data represent evidence for imitation is discussed. We also propose that the clear differences between the groups suggest that social learning mechanisms provide real benefits to these animals in terms of developing novel food-processing skills analogous to the one presented here. |
| Address |
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution and Scottish Primate Research Group, University of St Andrews, KY16 9JU, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. C.A.Caldwell@exeter.ac.uk |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15069606 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
735 |
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| Author |
Horner, V.; Whiten, A. |
| Title |
Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens) |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
164-181 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Child Behavior; Child, Preschool; *Concept Formation; Female; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Male; Pan troglodytes; *Problem Solving; Psychomotor Performance; *Social Environment; Species Specificity |
| Abstract |
This study explored whether the tendency of chimpanzees and children to use emulation or imitation to solve a tool-using task was a response to the availability of causal information. Young wild-born chimpanzees from an African sanctuary and 3- to 4-year-old children observed a human demonstrator use a tool to retrieve a reward from a puzzle-box. The demonstration involved both causally relevant and irrelevant actions, and the box was presented in each of two conditions: opaque and clear. In the opaque condition, causal information about the effect of the tool inside the box was not available, and hence it was impossible to differentiate between the relevant and irrelevant parts of the demonstration. However, in the clear condition causal information was available, and subjects could potentially determine which actions were necessary. When chimpanzees were presented with the opaque box, they reproduced both the relevant and irrelevant actions, thus imitating the overall structure of the task. When the box was presented in the clear condition they instead ignored the irrelevant actions in favour of a more efficient, emulative technique. These results suggest that emulation is the favoured strategy of chimpanzees when sufficient causal information is available. However, if such information is not available, chimpanzees are prone to employ a more comprehensive copy of an observed action. In contrast to the chimpanzees, children employed imitation to solve the task in both conditions, at the expense of efficiency. We suggest that the difference in performance of chimpanzees and children may be due to a greater susceptibility of children to cultural conventions, perhaps combined with a differential focus on the results, actions and goals of the demonstrator. |
| Address |
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9JU, UK. vkh1@st-andrews.ac.uk |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15549502 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
732 |
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| Author |
Stoinski, T.S.; Whiten, A. |
| Title |
Social learning by orangutans (Pongo abelii and Pongo pygmaeus) in a simulated food-processing task |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
| Volume |
117 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
272-282 |
| Keywords |
*Animal Communication; Animals; *Feeding Behavior; Female; *Imitative Behavior; Male; Pongo pygmaeus/*psychology; Problem Solving; Psychomotor Performance; Social Environment; Species Specificity; *Transfer (Psychology) |
| Abstract |
Increasing evidence for behavioral differences between populations of primates has created a resurgence of interest in examining mechanisms of information transfer between individuals. The authors examined the social transmission of information in 15 captive orangutans (Pongo abelii and Pongo pygmaeus) using a simulated food-processing task. Experimental subjects were shown 1 of 2 methods for removing a suite of defenses on an “artificial fruit.” Control subjects were given no prior exposure before interacting with the fruit. Observing a model provided a functional advantage in the task, as significantly more experimental than control subjects opened the fruit. Within the experimental groups, the authors found a trend toward differences in the actual behaviors used to remove 1 of the defenses. Results support observations from the wild implying horizontal transfer of information in orangutans and show that a number of social learning processes are likely to be involved in the transfer of knowledge in this species. |
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Department of Primate Research, Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA 30315, USA. tstoinski@zooatlanta.org |
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0735-7036 |
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| Notes |
PMID:14498803 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
737 |
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| Author |
Stoinski, T.S.; Wrate, J.L.; Ure, N.; Whiten, A. |
| Title |
Imitative learning by captive western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in a simulated food-processing task |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2001 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
| Volume |
115 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
272-281 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; *Discrimination Learning; Feeding Behavior/*physiology; Gorilla gorilla; *Imitative Behavior; Social Behavior |
| Abstract |
Although field studies have suggested the existence of cultural transmission of foraging techniques in primates, identification of transmission mechanisms has remained elusive. To test experimentally for evidence of imitation in the current study, we exposed gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) to an artificial fruit foraging task designed by A. Whiten and D. M. Custance (1996). Gorillas (n=6) watched a human model remove a series of 3 defenses around a fruit. Each of the defenses was removed using 1 of 2 alternative techniques. Subsequent video analysis of gorillas' behavior showed a significant tendency to copy the observed technique on 1 of the individual defenses and the direction of removal on another defense. This is the first statistically reliable evidence of imitation in gorillas. Sequence of defense removal was not replicated. The gorillas' responses were most similar to those of chimpanzees. |
| Address |
TECHlab, Zoo Atlanta, Georgia 30315, USA. stoinskit@mindspring.com |
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0735-7036 |
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PMID:11594496 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
738 |
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| Author |
Whiten, A. |
| Title |
Imitation of the sequential structure of actions by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1998 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
| Volume |
112 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
270-281 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Appetitive Behavior/physiology; *Ceremonial Behavior; Exploratory Behavior/physiology; Female; Fruit; Imitative Behavior/*physiology; Learning/*physiology; Male; Pan troglodytes/*psychology; Practice (Psychology); Problem Solving/*physiology |
| Abstract |
Imitation was studied experimentally by allowing chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to observe alternative patterns of actions for opening a specially designed “artificial fruit.” Like problematic foods primates deal with naturally, with the test fruit several defenses had to be removed to gain access to an edible core, but the sequential order and method of defense removal could be systematically varied. Each subject repeatedly observed 1 of 2 alternative techniques for removing each defense and 1 of 2 alternative sequential patterns of defense removal. Imitation of sequential organization emerged after repeated cycles of demonstration and attempts at opening the fruit. Imitation in chimpanzees may thus have some power to produce cultural convergence, counter to the supposition that individual learning processes corrupt copied actions. Imitation of sequential organization was accompanied by imitation of some aspects of the techniques that made up the sequence. |
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Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. a.whiten@st-andrews.ac.uk |
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0735-7036 |
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PMID:9770315 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
743 |
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Custance, D.; Whiten, A.; Sambrook, T.; Galdikas, B. |
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Testing for social learning in the “artificial fruit” processing of wildborn orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), Tanjung Puting, Indonesia |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2001 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
4 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
305-313 |
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Social learning about actions, objects and sequencing was investigated in a group of 14 wildborn orangutans (four adult females and ten 3- to 5-year-old juveniles). Human models showed alternative methods and sequences for dismantling an artificial fruit to groups of participants matched by gender and age. Each participant received three to six 2-min trials in which they were given access to the artificial fruit for manipulation. Independent coders, who were unaware of which method each participant had seen, gave confidence ratings and collected action frequencies from watching video recordings of the experimental trials. No significant differences were found between groups in terms of the coders' confidence ratings, the action frequencies or the sequence of manipulations. These negative results may at least partly reflect the immaturity of a large proportion of the participants. A positive correlation was found between age and the degree of matching to the method shown. Although none of the juveniles succeeded in opening the “fruit”, two out of the four adults did so and they also seemed to match more closely the sequence of elements touched over successive trials. The results are compared with similar data previously collected from human children, chimpanzees, gorillas, capuchin monkeys and common marmosets. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
3370 |
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| Author |
Horner, V.; Whiten, A.; Flynn, E.; de Waal, F.B.M. |
| Title |
Faithful replication of foraging techniques along cultural transmission chains by chimpanzees and children |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |
| Volume |
103 |
Issue |
37 |
Pages |
13878-13883 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Child, Preschool; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Pan troglodytes/*psychology |
| Abstract |
Observational studies of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have revealed population-specific differences in behavior, thought to represent cultural variation. Field studies have also reported behaviors indicative of cultural learning, such as close observation of adult skills by infants, and the use of similar foraging techniques within a population over many generations. Although experimental studies have shown that chimpanzees are able to learn complex behaviors by observation, it is unclear how closely these studies simulate the learning environment found in the wild. In the present study we have used a diffusion chain paradigm, whereby a behavior is passed from one individual to the next in a linear sequence in an attempt to simulate intergenerational transmission of a foraging skill. Using a powerful three-group, two-action methodology, we found that alternative methods used to obtain food from a foraging device (“lift door” versus “slide door”) were accurately transmitted along two chains of six and five chimpanzees, respectively, such that the last chimpanzee in the chain used the same method as the original trained model. The fidelity of transmission within each chain is remarkable given that several individuals in the no-model control group were able to discover either method by individual exploration. A comparative study with human children revealed similar results. This study is the first to experimentally demonstrate the linear transmission of alternative foraging techniques by non-human primates. Our results show that chimpanzees have a capacity to sustain local traditions across multiple simulated generations. |
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Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, United Kingdom |
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0027-8424 |
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PMID:16938863 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
159 |
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Assersohn, C.; Whiten, A.; Kiwede, Z.T.; Tinka, J.; Karamagi, J. |
| Title |
Use of leaves to inspect ectoparasites in wild chimpanzees: a third cultural variant? |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Primates |
Abbreviated Journal |
Primates |
| Volume |
45 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
255-258 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Animals, Wild/physiology; Ape Diseases/*parasitology; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Ectoparasitic Infestations/parasitology/*veterinary; Female; Grooming/*physiology; Male; Pan troglodytes/*physiology; *Plant Leaves; Protozoa/*isolation & purification; Uganda |
| Abstract |
We report 26 cases of using leaves as tools with which wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Sonso community, Budongo Forest, Uganda, appeared to inspect objects removed during grooming. Careful removal of potential ectoparasites and delicate lip or manual placement on leaves followed by intense visual examination characterised this behaviour. It appears to be done to judge whether either ingestion or discarding is most appropriate, the former occurring in most cases. This behaviour may represent a third variant of ectoparasite handling, different from those described at Tai and Gombe, yet sharing features with the latter. These two East African techniques may thus have evolved from leaf grooming. |
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Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9JU, Fife, UK |
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0032-8332 |
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PMID:15179558 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
733 |
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