Teaching varies with task complexity in wild chimpanzees

Abstract

Cumulative culture is a transformative force in human evolution, but the social underpinnings of this capacity are debated. Identifying social influences on how chimpanzees acquire tool tasks of differing complexity may help illuminate the evolutionary origins of technology in our own lineage. Humans routinely transfer tools to novices to scaffold their skill development. While tool transfers occur in wild chimpanzees and fulfill criteria for teaching, it is unknown whether this form of helping varies between populations and across tasks. Applying standardized methods, we compared tool transfers during termite gathering by chimpanzees in the Goualougo Triangle, Republic of Congo, and in Gombe, Tanzania. At Goualougo, chimpanzees use multiple, different tool types sequentially, choose specific raw materials, and perform modifications that improve tool efficiency, which could make it challenging for novices to manufacture suitable tools. Termite gathering at Gombe involves a single tool type, fishing probes, which can be manufactured from various materials. Multiple measures indicated population differences in tool-transfer behavior. The rate of transfers and probability of transfer upon request were significantly higher at Goualougo, while resistance to transfers was significantly higher at Gombe. Active transfers of tools in which possessors moved to facilitate possession change upon request occurred only at Goualougo, where they were the most common transfer type. At Gombe, tool requests were typically refused. We suggest that these population differences in tool-transfer behavior may relate to task complexity and that active helping plays an enhanced role in the cultural transmission of complex technology in wild apes.

Semiotics and the Origin of Language in the Lower Palaeolithic

“…Local traditions are recognised in central and west Africa including in similar habitats, which minimises the role of adaptation as an explanation for variability (Whiten et al 1999). Learning of tool use takes place in social contexts by imitation and emulation of others, by individual trial and error (Whiten et al 2009; van Schaik and Burkart 2011; Sanz and Morgan 2013) and teaching using active intervention and provisioning of tools, typically from mother to offspring (Musgrave et al 2020). Teaching appears to be more common where the technology is relatively complex with multiple steps in its making (Musgrave et al 2020), an observation of relevance when considering the complexities of making handaxes and cleavers (see below).…”

The elephant in the room: What matters cognitively in cumulative technological culture

“…The synergism model is supported by: (1) a recent study showing that social learning in young chimpanzees is more highly scaffolded and structured in a more-technologically advanced chimp population (Musgrave et al 2020;Whiten 2020); (2) the human micro-society studies that show enhancement of technology transfer when technical and theory of mind skills are combined (e.g., Osiurak et al 2020a); (3) a body of work showing that combinations of autistic-like and schizophrenia-like traits can optimize task performance (e.g., Abu-Akel et al 2015); and (4) recent cases of technological change in human societies, such as the synergism between Steve Wozniak, who showed many Asperger-like traits (Wozniak 2007) and Steve Jobs, who has been ascribed a suite of borderline and narcissistic traits, as well as a tendency toward "reality distortion" more generally (Isaacson 2011).…”

The technical reasoning hypothesis does not rule out the potential key roles of imitation and working memory for CTC

“…Yet, some animal cultural traits, such as termite-fishing in the Goualougou chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes, , combine complexity with limited information for the new learner to acquire visually (or "transparently"). Intriguingly, a recent report shows that this community displays more scaffolding of knowledge compared to a community with less complex tool use (Musgrave et al 2020). In field experiments with wild chimpanzees in Uganda, stick-savvy Kanyawara chimpanzees did not evaluate sticks as opaquely as the stick-less Sonso chimpanzees (Gruber et al 2009;.…”