The coevolution of innovation and technical intelligence in primates

Navarrete, Ana F.; Reader, Simon M.; Street, Sally E.; Whalen, Andrew; Laland, Kevin N.

doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0186

Cited by 92 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Across primates, support for multiple, nonexclusive hypotheses for enlarged brain (particularly neocortex) size has been identified in comparative studies, emphasizing the roles of social complexity (e.g., group size) (28,29), ecological intelligence (e.g., dietary complexity) (30,31), technical intelligence (e.g., tool use and technical innovation) (21,25,32), and behavioral complexity (e.g., innovativeness, social learning, and tactical deception) (21,25,33). Further, several comparative studies have found that larger brained primates have slower life histories, including longer juvenile periods and overall lifespans (e.g., ref.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coevolution of cultural intelligence, extended life history, sociality, and brain size in primates

Street

Navarrete

Reader

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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172

130

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Explanations for primate brain expansion and the evolution of human cognition and culture remain contentious despite extensive research. While multiple comparative analyses have investigated variation in brain size across primate species, very few have addressed why primates vary in how much they use social learning. Here, we evaluate the hypothesis that the enhanced reliance on socially transmitted behavior observed in some primates has coevolved with enlarged brains, complex sociality, and extended lifespans. Using recently developed phylogenetic comparative methods we show that, across primate species, a measure of social learning proclivity increases with absolute and relative brain volume, longevity (specifically reproductive lifespan), and social group size, correcting for research effort. We also confirm relationships of absolute and relative brain volume with longevity (both juvenile period and reproductive lifespan) and social group size, although longevity is generally the stronger predictor. Relationships between social learning, brain volume, and longevity remain when controlling for maternal investment and are therefore not simply explained as a by-product of the generally slower life history expected for larger brained species. Our findings suggest that both brain expansion and high reliance on culturally transmitted behavior coevolved with sociality and extended lifespan in primates. This coevolution is consistent with the hypothesis that the evolution of large brains, sociality, and long lifespans has promoted reliance on culture, with reliance on culture in turn driving further increases in brain volume, cognitive abilities, and lifespans in some primate lineages. cultural evolution | social learning | brain evolution | primates | phylogenetic comparative analysis

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coevolution of cultural intelligence, extended life history, sociality, and brain size in primates

Street

Navarrete

Reader

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

172

130

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“…In the present analysis, Sol et al [88] test the prediction that innovation propensity is a co-opted product of a collection of traits that allow an organism to cope with environmental change rather than a direct target of selection. As also seen in Navarrete et al's contribution [96], there is a welcome effort to transition from correlational analyses to identifying the most likely causal scenarios. Relative brain size exerts a common causal effect on innovation propensity and lifespan, which like Navarrete et al's [96] present finding of a direct relationship between technical innovations and brain size, point to a causal rather than to correlational relationship between brain size and innovativeness.…”

Section: Is Innovation Selected Upon Directly or Is Itmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As also seen in Navarrete et al's contribution [96], there is a welcome effort to transition from correlational analyses to identifying the most likely causal scenarios. Relative brain size exerts a common causal effect on innovation propensity and lifespan, which like Navarrete et al's [96] present finding of a direct relationship between technical innovations and brain size, point to a causal rather than to correlational relationship between brain size and innovativeness. Sol et al [88] go on to replicate previous work showing that both habitat and diet generalism are also predictors of higher innovation rates [94,97].…”

Section: Is Innovation Selected Upon Directly or Is Itmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovativeness as an emergent property: a new alignment of comparative and experimental research on animal innovation

Griffin¹

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 15 to a theme issue 'Innovation in animals and humans: understanding the origins and development of novel and creative behaviour'. Innovation and creativity are key defining features of human societies. As we face the global challenges of the twenty-first century, they are also facets upon which we must become increasingly reliant. But what makes Homo sapiens so innovative and where does our high innovation propensity come from? Comparative research on innovativeness in non-human animals allows us to peer back through evolutionary time and investigate the ecological factors that drove the evolution of innovativeness, whereas experimental research identifies and manipulates underpinning creative processes. In commenting on the present theme issue, I highlight the controversies that have typified this research field and show how a paradigmatic shift in our thinking about innovativeness will contribute to resolving these tensions. In the past decade, innovativeness has been considered by many as a trait, a direct product of cognition, and a direct target of selection. The evidence I review here suggests that innovativeness will be hereon viewed as one component, or even an emergent property of a larger array of traits, which have evolved to deal with environmental variation. I illustrate how research should capitalize on taxonomic diversity to unravel the full range of psychological processes that underpin innovativeness in non-human animals.

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“…Cultural innovations in humans and in other animals include the ability to use (tools) or modify the environment [56], specific (social or asocial) behaviours [57] and adornment that influences mating success [58]. Moreover, several studies have investigated the tendency to innovate itself as a trait (with little supporting evidence, [59,60]), or as a correlate of either life-history traits such as maximum lifespan in birds [61], or cognitive traits such as brain size in birds and primates [62,63]. These and other general phenomena hint at an important feature of innovations: they usually involve multiple levels of organization [16,30,64,65].…”

Section: The Scope Of Innovation and The Innovation Ecosystemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation: an emerging focus from cells to societies

Hochberg

Marquet

Boyd

et al. 2017

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Innovations are generally unexpected, often spectacular changes in phenotypes and ecological functions. The contributions to this theme issue are the latest conceptual, theoretical and experimental developments, addressing how ecology, environment, ontogeny and evolution are central to understanding the complexity of the processes underlying innovations. Here, we set the stage by introducing and defining key terms relating to innovation and discuss their relevance to biological, cultural and technological change. Discovering how the generation and transmission of novel biological information, environmental interactions and selective evolutionary processes contribute to innovation as an ecosystem will shed light on how the dominant features across life come to be, generalize to social, cultural and technological evolution, and have applications in the health sciences and sustainability. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies’.

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The coevolution of innovation and technical intelligence in primates

Abstract: One contribution of 15 to a theme issue 'Innovation in animals and humans: understanding the origins and development of novel and creative behaviour'.

Cited by 92 publications

References 70 publications

Coevolution of cultural intelligence, extended life history, sociality, and brain size in primates

Coevolution of cultural intelligence, extended life history, sociality, and brain size in primates

Innovativeness as an emergent property: a new alignment of comparative and experimental research on animal innovation

Innovation: an emerging focus from cells to societies

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