Emergence of Culture in Wild Chimpanzees: Education by Master-Apprenticeship

Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; Biro, Dora; Humle, Tatyana; Inoue-Nakamura, Noriko; Tonooka, Rikako; Yamakoshi, Gen

doi:10.1007/978-4-431-09423-4_28

Cited by 141 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…For example, information about the design of currently used tools could be obtained from an inspection of existing tools, as well as from directly observing tool manufacturing techniques. Adult chimpanzees, for example, frequently allow juveniles to use and interact with objects that they had just used as tools (Biro, Sousa, & Matsuzawa, 2006;Matsuzawa et al, 2001). Laboratory experiments have confirmed that the use of tools that were previously used by an experienced individual can support the acquisition of tool skills in naive individuals (Hirata & Celli, 2003;Hirata & Morimura, 2000).…”

Section: Jennifer C Hmentioning

confidence: 97%

Social learning in New Caledonian crows

Holzhaider

Hunt

Gray

2010

Learning & Behavior

109

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New Caledonian (NC) crows are the most sophisticated tool manufacturers other than humans. The diversification and geographical distribution of their three Pandanus tool designs that differ in complexity, as well as the lack of ecological correlates, suggest that cumulative technological change has taken place. To investigate the p possibility that high-fidelity social transmission mediated this putative ratchet-like process, we studied the ontogeny of Pandanus tool manufacture and social organization in free-living NC crows. We found that juvenile crows took more than 1 year to reach adult proficiency in their Pandanus tool skills. Although trial-and-error learning is clearly important, juveniles have ample opportunity to learn about Pandanus tool manufacture by both observing their parents and interacting with artifactual material. The crows' social system seems likely to promote the faithful social transmission of local tool designs by both favoring the vertical transmission of tool information and minimizing horizontal transmission. We suggest that NC crows develop their Pandanus tool skills in a highly scaffolded learning environment that facilitates the cumulative technological evolution of tool designs.

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Section: Jennifer C Hmentioning

confidence: 97%

Social learning in New Caledonian crows

Holzhaider

Hunt

Gray

2010

Learning & Behavior

109

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“…Those who do field studies with great apes, on the contrary, find ample evidence for collaborative activities (hunting, for example, Boesch, 2005). Matasuzawa and colleagues describe the process whereby chimpanzee mothers facilitate their child's persistent imitation of her skilled nut cracking, including providing free access to shelled nuts and the hammer and anvil stone tool kit (Matasuzawa et al, 2001). In fact, it is striking how similar human's facilitation of children's attempts to learn tool use is to chimpanzee practice (Humle and Newton-Fisher 2013; Lancy, in press b).…”

Section: Natural Pedagogy?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching: Natural or Cultural?

Lancy

2016

Evolutionary Psychology

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In this chapter I argue that teaching, as we now understand the term, is historically and crossculturally very rare. It appears to be unnecessary to transmit culture or to socialize children.Children are, on the other hand, primed by evolution to be avid observers, imitators, players and helpers-roles that reveal the profoundly autonomous and self-directed nature of culture acquisition (Lancy in press a). And yet, teaching is ubiquitous throughout the modern world-at least among the middle to upper class segment of the population. This ubiquity has led numerous scholars to argue for the universality and uniqueness of teaching as a characteristically human behavior. The theme of this chapter is that this proposition is unsustainable. Teaching is largely a result of recent cultural changes and the emergence of modern economies, not evolution.

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“…Additionally, some rare incidences of opportunity teaching have been reported for chimpanzees rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org Phil Trans R Soc B 368: 20130050 [35,115]. Habitual tool users thus seem to profit from socially scaffolded learning environments that facilitate education by master-apprenticeship [27,116].…”

Section: Developmental Evidence For the Role Of Social Inputmentioning

confidence: 99%

If at first you don't succeed… Studies of ontogeny shed light on the cognitive demands of habitual tool use

Meulman

Seed

Mann

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Many species use tools, but the mechanisms underpinning the behaviour differ between species and even among individuals within species, depending on the variants performed. When considering tool use ‘as adaptation’, an important first step is to understand the contribution made by fixed phenotypes as compared to flexible mechanisms, for instance learning. Social learning of tool use is sometimes inferred based on variation between populations of the same species but this approach is questionable. Specifically, alternative explanations cannot be ruled out because population differences are also driven by genetic and/or environmental factors. To better understand the mechanisms underlying routine but non-universal (i.e. habitual) tool use, we suggest focusing on the ontogeny of tool use and individual variation within populations. For example, if tool-using competence emerges late during ontogeny and improves with practice or varies with exposure to social cues, then a role for learning can be inferred. Experimental studies help identify the cognitive and developmental mechanisms used when tools are used to solve problems. The mechanisms underlying the route to tool-use acquisition have important consequences for our understanding of the accumulation in technological skill complexity over the life course of an individual, across generations and over evolutionary time.

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Emergence of Culture in Wild Chimpanzees: Education by Master-Apprenticeship

Cited by 141 publications

References 15 publications

Social learning in New Caledonian crows

Social learning in New Caledonian crows

Teaching: Natural or Cultural?

If at first you don't succeed… Studies of ontogeny shed light on the cognitive demands of habitual tool use

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