%0 Journal Article
%T Behavioral constraints and the evolution of faithful social learning
%A Alberto ACERBI
%A Pierre O. JACQUET
%A Claudio TENNIE
%J Current Zoology
%D 2012
%I Current Zoology
%X Behavioral ¡°traditions¡±, i.e. behavioral patterns that are acquired with the aid of social learning and that are relatively stable in a group, have been observed in several species. Recently, however, it has been questioned whether non-human social learning is faithful enough to stabilize those patterns. The observed stability could be interpreted as a result of various constraints that limit the number of possible alternative behaviors, rather than of the fidelity of transmission mechanisms. Those constraints can be roughly described as ¡°internal¡±, such as mechanical (bodily) properties or cognitive limitations and predispositions, and ¡°external¡±, such as ecological availability or pressures. Here we present an evolutionary individual-based model that explores the relationships between the evolution of faithful social learning and behavioral constraints, represented both by the size of the beha-vioral repertoire and by the ¡°shape¡± of the search space of a given task. We show that the evolution of high-fidelity transmission mechanisms, when associated with costs (e.g. cognitive, biomechanical, energetic, etc.), is only likely if the potential behavioral repertoire of a species is large and if the search space does not provide information that can be exploited by individual learning. Moreover we show how stable behavioral patterns (¡°traditions¡±) can be achieved at the population level as an outcome of both high-fidelity and low-fidelity transmission mechanisms, given that the latter are coupled with a small behavioral repertoire or with a search space that provide substantial feedback. Finally, by introducing the possibility of environmental change, we show that intermediate rates of change favor the evolution of faithful social learning [Current Zoology 58 (2): 307-318, 2012].
%K Animal social learning
%K Cultural evolution
%K Cultural transmission
%K Copying fidelity
%K Individual based modeling
%U http://www.currentzoology.org/paperdetail.asp?id=12007