Examining the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of animal tool behaviour

Bandini, Elisa; Motes-Rodrigo, Alba; Steele, Matthew; Rutz, Christian

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2020.0122

Cited by 36 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Lehner et al 2010 ). Although the behavioural forms within a species’ ZLS emerge via individual learning, non-copying variants of social learning often facilitate their acquisition (by, for example, attracting the individual to the area (“know-where” Bandini et al 2020 ) in which others are performing the behaviour; 7 see Whiten et al 2004 for an overview of the various social learning mechanisms). Thus, non-copying social learning mechanisms help not only create, but also sustain, the resultant population-level behavioural repertoires typically described as ape cultures (e.g., chimpanzees: Whiten et al 2001 ; orangutans: van Schaik et al 2003 ; gorillas: Robbins et al 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The zone of latent solutions and its relevance to understanding ape cultures

et al. 2020

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The zone of latent solutions (ZLS) hypothesis provides an alternative approach to explaining cultural patterns in primates and many other animals. According to the ZLS hypothesis, non-human great ape (henceforth: ape) cultures consist largely or solely of latent solutions. The current competing (and predominant) hypothesis for ape culture argues instead that at least some of their behavioural or artefact forms are copied through specific social learning mechanisms (“copying social learning hypothesis”) and that their forms may depend on copying (copying-dependent forms). In contrast, the ape ZLS hypothesis does not require these forms to be copied. Instead, it suggests that several (non-form-copying) social learning mechanisms help determine the frequency (but typically not the form) of these behaviours and artefacts within connected individuals. The ZLS hypothesis thus suggests that increases and stabilisations of a particular behaviour’s or artefact’s frequency can derive from socially-mediated (cued) form reinnovations. Therefore, and while genes and ecology play important roles as well, according to the ape ZLS hypothesis, apes typically acquire the forms of their behaviours and artefacts individually, but are usually socially induced to do so (provided sufficient opportunity, necessity, motivation and timing). The ZLS approach is often criticized—perhaps also because it challenges the current null hypothesis, which instead assumes a requirement of form-copying social learning mechanisms to explain many ape behavioural (and/or artefact) forms. However, as the ZLS hypothesis is a new approach, with less accumulated literature compared to the current null hypothesis, some confusion is to be expected. Here, we clarify the ZLS approach—also in relation to other competing hypotheses—and address misconceptions and objections. We believe that these clarifications will provide researchers with a coherent theoretical approach and an experimental methodology to examine the necessity of form-copying variants of social learning in apes, humans and other species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The zone of latent solutions and its relevance to understanding ape cultures

et al. 2020

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“…The findings of this review suggest that whilst individual learning and non-copying social learning mechanisms are widespread across animal species, and indeed we should perhaps assume a priori that most animals do acquire some of their information via non-copying social learning, the evidence for form copying social learning in most animal species is much less clear. Therefore, future studies should continue to explicitly test for the role of copying in the acquisition of behavioural (and artefact) forms, ensuring that the experimental paradigms used are appropriate and can effectively identify specific copying mechanisms, rather than generic social learning (Tennie, Call & Tomasello, 2012;Tennie et al, 2017;Bandini et al, 2020b). So far, great apes have been the targets of most of these tests, as perhaps due to their close phylogenetic ties to humans (but also their reputation), they are often hypothesised to be the most likely candidates for having copying abilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the contrary, many of the studies in Table 2 that included social learning conditions found evidence of non-copying social learning mechanisms regulating the frequency of behaviours, and speed of acquisition, once one, or more, individuals in a group had developed the target behavioural form ( Horner & Whiten, 2005 ; Hopper et al, 2007 ). Furthermore, just by including new apparatuses or objects into naïve subjects’ enclosures, non-copying social learning (such as stimulus enhancement) is already involved in encouraging the subjects to explore and manipulate the new objects ( Bandini et al, 2020b ). Therefore, for these types of experimental studies, non-copying social learning is often impossible to exclude from the testing conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, although it is unlikely that many behavioural forms are genetically 'imprinted' in animals, it is very possible that certain species are genetically predisposed to pay attention to specific types of stimuli, which then necessarily, or very likely, lead to a tool-use behaviour emerging (i.e. these behavioural forms would then be exaptations, rather than adaptations; Bandini et al, 2020b). In summary, further research is still required into the role of genetic differences in the tool-use abilities of animals.…”

Section: Genetic Influencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early studies on the mechanisms behind animal tool-use suggested that these behaviours were acquired primarily via individual learning ( Köhler, 1925 and see also Bandini et al, 2020b ). Since then, almost all animal species have demonstrated an ability to use information via non-copying types of social learning, (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use

Bandini

Tennie

2020

PeerJ

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The notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal behaviour literature is biased towards a social learning approach, in which animal, and in particular primate, tool-use repertoires are thought to require social learning mechanisms (copying variants of social learning are most often invoked). However, concrete evidence for a widespread dependency on social learning is still lacking. On the other hand, a growing body of observational and experimental data demonstrates that various animal species are capable of acquiring the forms of their tool-use behaviours via individual learning, with (non-copying) social learning regulating the frequencies of the behavioural forms within (and, indirectly, between) groups. As a first outline of the extent of the role of individual learning in animal tool-use, a literature review of reports of the spontaneous acquisition of animal tool-use behaviours was carried out across observational and experimental studies. The results of this review suggest that perhaps due to the pervasive focus on social learning in the literature, accounts of the individual learning of tool-use forms by naïve animals may have been largely overlooked, and their importance under-examined.

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Implementing long‐term baselines into primate tool‐use studies

Bandini

2020

American J Primatol

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Studies on primate tool‐use often involve the use of baseline conditions, as they allow for the examination of any differences in the subjects' behavior before and after the introduction of a tool‐use task. While these baseline conditions can be powerful for identifying the relative contributions of individual and social learning for the acquisition of tool‐use behaviors in naïve (usually captive) subjects, many have criticized them for being too short, and not allowing enough time for the behavior to develop spontaneously. Furthermore, some wild tool‐use behaviors such as chimpanzee nut‐cracking require animals to manipulate and familiarize themselves with the materials of the behavior within a “sensitive learning period” before it develops later on in life. One solution to this problem is to implement long‐term baselines, in which, with collaboration with zoological institutions, the materials of the behavior are left in the enclosure for an extended period. The keepers would then be asked not to demonstrate or train the animals in the target behavior, but to report back to the researchers if they observe the behavior emerge during this extended period. Alongside keeper reports, video cameras could be installed in the enclosure to minimize the chance of false negatives and to allow for coding and inter‐rater reliability to be carried out on the videos. These long‐term baselines therefore provide extended enrichment opportunities for the animals, alongside allowing the zoological institution to publicize their involvement with the study and guests to observe animals interacting with different testing apparatuses and tools. Finally, long‐term baselines can provide invaluable insight on the individual and social learning abilities of primates as well as the potential development stages and sensitive learning periods required for specific behaviors.

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Examining the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of animal tool behaviour

Cited by 36 publications

References 45 publications

The zone of latent solutions and its relevance to understanding ape cultures

The zone of latent solutions and its relevance to understanding ape cultures

Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use

Implementing long‐term baselines into primate tool‐use studies

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