On the interface of genetic, cultural and ecological dynamics: social learning and the emergence of foraging cultures

Prof. dr. Hogeweg

Results 2005

Our initial results have shown how resource distributions can affect diet development via trial-and-error learning in group foragers. The main results are that homogeneously distributed resources lead to diet differentiation within groups due to local competition. In contrast, patchy environments allow individuals to share learning contexts and lead to group level diet similarity. Different groups develop different diets, however, because they follow different learning trajectories.

An important insight from these results is that trial-and-error learning is under social influence as soon as it occurs in groups and asocial learning no longer exists. We cannot model groups without social learning. Social learning is therefore merely a side-effect of grouping and does not require a selective advantage. Further results also show that the group-level diets developed in patchy environments can be transmitted from one generation to the next using only socially influenced trial-and-error learning. These results demonstrate that trial-and-error in a social context can already lead to primitive diet cultures and should be seen as side-effects of grouping.

Given that mere trial-and-error learning already leads to social learning in groups, and allows for cultural transmission, we have not yet started studying observational learning as originally planned. Instead, we have found the phenomena arising from trial-and-error in groups to be sufficiently complex to require detailed study. This emphasises the lack of understanding of even simple learning mechanisms in complex worlds. As a consequence, our approach to observational learning has shifted to what additional role observational learning can play in light of the social influences on trial-and-error learning that already occur in groups.

Our planned work on co-evolution between digestion (genes and micro-flora) and diet cultures has become even more interesting given our findings on diet cultures arising from trial-and-error learning. Since the diet cultures are obligate side-effects of grouping, such co-evolution will also arise naturally making its relevance even greater.