Unknotting the interactive effects of learning processes on cultural evolutionary dynamics

Scanlon, Lauren; Lobb, Andrew; Tehrani, Jamshid J.; Kendal, Jeremy R.

doi:10.1017/ehs.2019.17

Unknotting the interactive effects of learning processes on cultural evolutionary dynamics

Scanlon, Lauren; Lobb, Andrew; Tehrani, Jamshid J.; Kendal, Jeremy R.

Authors

Lauren Scanlon

Andrew Lobb

Professor Jamshid Tehrani jamie.tehrani@durham.ac.uk
Head Of Department

Dr Jeremy Kendal jeremy.kendal@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

Forms of non-random copying error provide sources of inherited variation yet their effects on cultural evolutionary dynamics are poorly understood. Focusing on variation in granny and reef knot forms, we present a mathematical model that specifies how these variant frequencies are affected by non-linear interactions between copying fidelity, mirroring, handedness and repetition biases. Experiments on adult humans allowed these effects to be estimated using Approximate Bayesian Computation and the model is iterated to explain the prevalence of granny over reef knots in the wild. Our study system also serves to show conditions under which copying fidelity drives heterogeneity in cultural variants at equilibrium, and that interaction between unbiased forms of copying error can skew cultural variation.

Citation

Scanlon, L., Lobb, A., Tehrani, J. J., & Kendal, J. R. (2019). Unknotting the interactive effects of learning processes on cultural evolutionary dynamics. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 1, Article e17. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2019.17

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 11, 2019
Online Publication Date	Dec 23, 2019
Publication Date	Dec 23, 2019
Deposit Date	Nov 11, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Nov 16, 2019
Journal	Evolutionary Human Sciences
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	1
Article Number	e17
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2019.17

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Copyright Statement
COPYRIGHT: © The Author(s) 2019.This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.