Model-Based Assimilation Transmits and Recombines World Models

Abstract

We argue that imitation, in addition to the typical roles it plays in culture, additionally supports the social transmission and recombination of world models. We propose a learning pathway called “model-based assimilation”, which uses imitation to shape the statics of experience, and “hijacks” existing individual learning mechanisms supporting model-based learning (e.g., hippocampal replay). This pathway is computationally cheaper than explicit Theory of Mind inference, but nevertheless allows for the social recombination of knowledge across multiple brains. Our theory provides important insights into why our close relative, the chimpanzee, imitates poorly and why humans acquired cumulative culture.

Group coordination catalyzes individual and cultural intelligence

“…While there has been a recent resurgence of interest in understanding compositionality in asocial contexts (Rubino, Hamidi, Dayan, & Wu, 2023;Sablé-Meyer et al, 2021;Amalric & Dehaene, 2019;Schwartenbeck et al, 2021), here we focus on the social and cultural consequences of compositionality. Just as individual representations of the world can be compositional in nature (i.e., decomposible into primitives and productively recombined; Kurth-Nelson et al, 2023;Schwartenbeck et al, 2021), so too might beliefs inferred from (or about) others (Uchiyama, Tennie, & Wu, 2023).…”

“…Compositionality thus helps us flexibly integrate socially acquired information with our own structured understanding to productively generate new innovations, rather than only adopting others' solutions wholesale. Hybrid solutions can be obtained by recombining fragments of individually acquired knowledge structures with socially inferred fragments (Muthukrishna & Henrich, 2016;Uchiyama et al, 2023). For example, a Japanese chef might acquire an understanding of which foods pair well with avocado from observing Mexican or Californian cuisine, and plug this fragment into the broader structure of their sushi training to generate new culinary innovations 1 .…”