1. Cultural Transmission
Chapter 6:
Cultural Transmission
What is Cultural Transmission?
Modes of Cultural Transmission
Genetics and Cultural Transmission

2. Social learning (cultural transmission) in Japanese Macaques
Imo, a Japanese macaque, introduced a number of new behaviors that spread through her population via cultural transmission.
By 1959, almost all juveniles in her troop practiced potato washing. (Kawamura, 1959;
Kawai, 1965)
FIGURE 6.1. Imo the monkey. Imo, a Japanese macaque, introduced a number of new behaviors (for example, potato washing) that spread through her population via cultural transmission. (Photo credit: Umeyo Mori)

3. Potato washing in monkeys
Potato washing in monkeys. In Japanese macaques living on Koshima Islet, Japan, the skill of potato washing appears to be transmitted culturally.
FIGURE 6.2. Potato washing in monkeys. In Japanese macaques living on Koshima Islet, Japan, the skill of potato washing appears to be transmitted culturally. (Photo credit: Frans de Waal)

4. Stone play in Japanese Macaques
Stone play in Japanese Macaques. In a population of Japanese macaques in the Iwatayama National Park in Kyoto, a tradition of “stone play,” in which individuals stack up stones and then knock them down, has been observed. (Huffman, 1996)
FIGURE 6.3. Stone play in monkeys. In one population of Japanese macaques in the Iwatayama National Park in Kyoto a tradition of “stone play,” in which individuals stack up stones and then knock them down, has been observed. (Photo credit: Michael Huffman)

5. FIGURE 6. 4. Stone play tradition spreads
FIGURE 6.4. Stone play tradition spreads. Orange bars represent verified stone handlers. (From Huffman, 1996, p. 276)

6. FIGURE 6. 5. Stone play and age
FIGURE 6.5. Stone play and age. (A) The number of stone play sessions decreases with age. (B) The average time per stone play session increases with age. (From Nahallage and Huffman, 2007)
Stone play and age. (A) The number of stone play sessions decreases with age. (B) The average time per stone play session increases with age. Perhaps it is “motor training” in the juveniles? (From Nahallage and Huffman, 2007)

7. What is Cultural Transmission?

8. What constitutes cultural transmission?
Monkey see, monkey do.
What constitutes cultural transmission?
A human child is learns to use utensils by watching others.
A young chimp learns its nut-cracking skills from watching others.
Effect of others: MODEL and OBSERVER (learner)
FIGURE 6.6. What constitutes cultural transmission? The child (left) is learning to use utensils by watching others (that is, through cultural transmission). The young chimp on the right, also has learned its nut-cracking skills from watching others.

9. Imitation in human infants
Imitation in human infants. Imitation is a form of social learning that begins early in humans.
FIGURE 6.7. Imitation in infants. Imitation is a form of social learning that begins early in humans. Here an infant claps his hands in imitation of his mother clapping her hands. (Photo credit: Jerry Tobias/Corbis)

10. Cultural transmission via teaching Teaching is a form of cultural transmission in which the teacher imparts some information to a student faster than the student could learn it on her own.
FIGURE 6.8. Cultural transmission via teaching. Teaching is a form of cultural transmission in which the teacher imparts some information to a student faster than the student could learn it on her own. This piano teacher is teaching her young student how to place her hands to produce particular chords on the piano. (Photo credit: fotosearch)

11. Cultural transmission is much faster than natural selection

12. Local enhancement. If fish 1 is drawn to where fish 2 is foraging (near a stone) local enhancement is at work. (Thorpe, 1956, 1963)
FIGURE Local enhancement. If fish 1 is drawn to where fish 2 is foraging (near a stone) local enhancement is at work.

13. Social facilitation. The presence of one or more models draws in an observer. Here a lone starling is attracted to a group, not because of what group members are doing or where they are, but simply because it is drawn to the presence of others. “Safety in numbers” might be an example of social facilitation(Zajone, 1965).
FIGURE Social facilitation. In social facilitation, the mere presence of one or more models draws in an observer. Here a lone starling is attracted to a group, not because of what group members are doing or where they are, but simply because it is drawn to the presence of others. “Safety in numbers” might be a benefit to such facilitation.

14. Social Learning
FIGURE Watch, learn, and decide. Chimps learn how to “fish” for termites by watching others. Chimps may judge how effective a foraging technique is, and choose whether or not to add it to their behavioral repertoire.
Watch, learn, and decide. Chimps learn how to “fish” for termites by watching others. Chimps may judge how effective a foraging technique is, and choose whether or not to add it to their behavioral repertoire

15. Crop raiding behavior in elephants The role that social learning plays in crop raiding has been studied in elephant populations in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Chiyo, et. all. 2012). This work may play a role in elephant management.
FIGURE Crop raiding behavior in elephants. The role that social learning plays in crop raiding has been studied in elephant populations in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. (Photo credit: Martin Harvey/Alamy)

16. Imitation An “observer” bird watches a trained pigeon (model) that must lift its foot and push on a lever to open a small circular entrance to a food source. Imitation occurs when the observer learns this new task by watching the model lift its leg and push the lever down.(Romanes, 1884, 1889)
FIGURE Imitation. Here an observer bird watches a trained pigeon that must lift its foot and push on a lever to open a small circular entrance to a food source. Imitation occurs when the observer learns this new task by watching the model lift its leg and push the lever down.

17. FIGURE 6. 18. Blue tit birds opening milk bottles
FIGURE Blue tit birds opening milk bottles. Blue tit birds learned to peck open the top of milk jugs decades ago. This behavior may have spread via cultural transmission. (Photo credit: Roger Wilmhurst/Foto Natura/Minden Pictures)
Imitation: Blue Tits opening milk bottles These birds learned to peck open the top of milk jugs decades ago. This behavior is thought to have spread via cultural transmission. (Fisher and Hinde, 1949).

18. Mate-choice copying in guppies (Dugatkin, 1992)
FIGURE Mate-choice copying. The experimental apparatus used in the guppy mate-choice copying experiments. Whether the model is placed near the male on the left or on the right is determined by the flip of a coin.
Mate-choice copying in guppies (Dugatkin, 1992)

19. Copying a defensive response: After a mouse is bitten by a stable fly, one of its defensive responses is to bury itself under debris. A mouse that observes another mouse being bitten by a stable fly and then hiding will copy the hiding behavior of the model mouse as soon as it is exposed to a fly (Kavaliers, et. al. , 1999, 2001).
FIGURE Copying a defensive response. After a mouse is bitten by a stable fly, one of its defensive responses is to bury itself under debris. A mouse that observes another mouse being bitten by a stable fly and then hiding will copy the hiding behavior of the model mouse as soon as it is exposed to a fly.

20. FIGURE 6. 21a. Meerkat traditions come and go
FIGURE 6.21a. Meerkat traditions come and go. (A) Meerkats foraging in a group. (B) The set of visual cues used to create landmarks. Such arbitrary landmarks became attractive to meerkat group members if they observed others feeding there. “Positive” means a trained model preferred the area near this landmark. “Neutral” means no model was associated with this landmark. (Photo credit: Martin Harvey/Getty Images; Courtesy of Alex Thorton; from Thornton and Malapert, 2009b)
Meerkat “traditions” come and go. Visual cues used were used to create “landmarks.” Such arbitrary landmarks became attractive to meerkat group members if they observed others feeding there. However, within a few days, the tradition faded… forgetting? (Thornton and Malapert, 2009)

21. Teaching

22. Cheetah teaching? A mother cheetah brings a Thomson’s gazelle to her cubs and allows them to “kill it,” even though it was already dead.
FIGURE 6.22a. Cheetah teaching? (A) A mother cheetah brings a Thomson’s gazelle to her cubs and allows them to “kill it,” even though it was already dead. (B) Until the young cheetah is taught how to hunt, it can only kill small items like the hare shown here. (Photo credits: Tim Caro)
Until the young cheetah is taught how to hunt, it can only kill small items (Caro and Hunter, 1992).

23. FIGURE 6. 23. Meerkat foraging and teaching
FIGURE Meerkat foraging and teaching. Older groupmates assist younger pups in their foraging attempts and also teach the younger pups to catch prey, including dangerous scorpions, as shown here. (Photo credit: Alex Thornton)
Meerkat foraging and teaching: Older groupmates assist younger pups in their foraging attempts and also teach the younger pups to catch prey, including dangerous scorpions, as shown here (Thornton and McAuliffe, 2006).

24. Modes of Cultural Transmission
Vertical Cultural Transmission
Oblique Cultural Transmission
Horizontal Cultural Transmission

25. FIGURE 6. 24. Cultural transmission in finches
FIGURE Cultural transmission in finches. Birdsong in some species of finches is learned culturally. (Photo credit: Greg Lasley Nature Photography)
Vertical Cultural Transmission in Galapagos Finches Males learning song they sing from their fathers, females learn the song the will seek from their mothers (Grant and Grant)

26. FIGURE 6. 25. Beaching behavior
FIGURE Beaching behavior. Dolphins may trap fish by stranding them on a beach and then surging out of the water to catch them. The dolphins then quickly return to the water with their prey. (Photo credit: Neil Lucas/Nature Picture Library)
Vertical Cultural Transmission of beaching behavior. Dolphins can catch fish by stranding them on a beach and then surging out of the water to catch them. Their children may learn this behavior from their mothers (Hoese, 1971).

27. Vertical Cultural Transmission:
Sponging behavior in dolphins. Female Bottlenose Dolphins break a marine sponge off the seafloor and place it over their mouth. This tool is used to probe the seafloor for fish prey and to protect them from scrapes and stings as they forage. This behavior is learned from their mothers (Smolker, 1997).
FIGURE Sponging behavior in dolphins. Female bottlenose dolphins break a marine sponge off the seafloor and place it over their mouth. This tool is used to probe the seafloor for fish prey and to protect them from scrapes and stings as they forage. (Photo credit: Janet Mann)

28. Oblique Cultural transmission: not from parent to offspring
Monkeys and fear of snakes. Rhesus monkeys in the field often fear snakes after watching others respond to such potential danger.
FIGURE Monkeys and fear of snakes. Rhesus monkeys in the field often fear snakes after watching others respond to such potential danger. Monkeys raised in the lab that do not normally fear snakes can be made to fear them through observing older monkeys reacting fearfully to snakes. Young monkeys were shown this video of an older monkey that fled to the back of the cage and cringed in fear at the sight of two snakes. (Photo credit: Sue Mineka)

29. Horizontal Cultural Transmission Peer to peer transmission within a an approximate age group

31. FIGURE 6. 28. Finch songs across generations
FIGURE Finch songs across generations. Components of male finch song are positively correlated with those of their father and their paternal grandfather, but not their maternal grandfather. This is consistent with cultural transmission of male song. (From B.R. Grant and Grant, 1996)

32. FIGURE 6. 29. Mate-choice copying in guppies
FIGURE Mate-choice copying in guppies. In the control trials a female chose between males that differed in orange body color and no model female was present. In these trials, females show a strong preference for more orange males. In the treatment trials, a model female was always placed near the less orange male. (Based on Dugatkin, 1996b)

33. FIGURE 6. 30. Effects of increasing brain size in primates
FIGURE Effects of increasing brain size in primates. Reader and Laland determined the executive brain ratio (the executive brain size divided by the brain stem size) to examine the relationship between (A) innovations and (B) social learning and brain size. Both of the relationships shown in the graphs held true for absolute executive brain size as well as executive brain ratio. (From Reader and Laland, 2002)