W5 Social Learning

Question 1

What is social learning?

Answer 1

“learning that is influenced by observation of, or interaction with, another animal (typically a conspecific) or its products”

Question 2

Why would animals learn socially?

Answer 2

Without social learning species’ rely on:

1. Species-typical behavior, which is good, but inflexible to enviro change
2. Trial & Error learning. Flexible but risky.

Question 3

What do animals use social learning primarily for?

Answer 3

Avoid predators, find/access food

Question 4

Give an example of social learning?

Answer 4

Crows mobbing an eagle

Question 5

What are the different social learning mechanisms?

Answer 5

1 – Social facilitation
2 – Local/stimulus enhancement
3 – Emulation
4 – Imitation

Question 6

Describe imitation

Answer 6

When an observer suddenly acquires a novel behavior by copying the motor pattern of the demonstrator

Question 7

Why is imitation considered so “intelligent”?

Answer 7

Correspondence problem

How does a visual input lead to a matching motor output?

Question 8

Describe Social Facilitation

Answer 8

Where the mere presence of a demonstrator affects the observer’s behaviour.
(Increase/decrease fear)

Question 9

Describe Local/stimulus enhancement

Answer 9

When the presence of a demonstrator attracts the observer towards a particular location/stimulus

Question 10

Describe Emulation

Answer 10

Where the observer learns about cause-effect relations rather than the behaviour itself

Question 11

How can we determine which mechanism(s) an animal can/does use?

Answer 11

Imitation: two-action problems

Question 12

Can apes imitate? Give an example?

Answer 12

Viki the chimpanzee. Recognize actions.
“even though we were
certain she had never
done them before”

Question 13

Do apes imitate everything they can see? Give examples.

Answer 13

No all the time. In the observance of “fruit cracking” chimps sometimes did not.

Question 14

Can chimpanzee traditions spread through populations?

Answer 14

Yes. In the pan-pipes experiment, groups of chimps’s behaviours became more and more similar over time. (Conformity Bias)

Question 15

Why are human traditions more complex than

chimps?

Answer 15

Children over-imitate, thus Social conformity is higher in humans than apes.

Question 16

What is teaching?

Answer 16

Inadvertent Social learning.

Question 17

We can’t know what an animal’s intentions are, so how can we differentiate teaching from other behaviours?

Answer 17

‘‘An individual actor A [the tutor] can be said to
teach if it:
(1) modifies its behaviour only in the presence
of a naive observer, B [the pupil]
(2) at some cost or at least without obtaining an
immediate benefit for itself..
A’s behaviour thereby encourages or punishes
B’s behaviour, or provides B with experience, or
sets an example for B.
(3) As a result, B acquires knowledge, or learns a
skill earlier in life or more rapidly or efficiently
than it might otherwise do so, or would not
learn at all.

Question 18

Is mobbing a predator teaching?

Answer 18

Not Teaching:
(1)No. Behaviour not
modified in
presence of a naïve
observer
(2)Yes. Some cost to
self
(3)Yes. ‘B’ acquires
knowledge

Question 19

Are carnivores bring ‘practice’ prey to offspring teaching?

Answer 19

(1)Yes. Behaviour
modified in
presence of a naïve
observer.
(2)Yes. Gives up food.
(3)Yes. ‘B’ acquires
knowledge.

Question 20

Are carnivores bring ‘practice’ prey to offspring teaching?

Answer 20

(1)Yes. Behaviour
modified in
presence of a naïve
observer.
(2)Yes. Gives up food.
(3)Yes. ‘B’ acquires
knowledge.

Question 21

Meerkats hunting with young. Is it teaching?

Answer 21

(1) modifies its behaviour. Normally eat prey straight away, but will kill or disable before giving to begging pup.

(2) at some cost. Sometimes the disabled scorpions will escape, takes time to disable.
A’s behaviour thereby encourages or punishes
B’s behaviour, or provides B with experience, or
sets an example for B.
Pups able to experience killing scorpions
without risk of being stung.

(3) As a result, B acquires knowledge, or learns a
skill earlier in life or more rapidly or efficiently than
it might otherwise do so, or would not learn at all.
• In an artificial experiment, pups given extra
opportunities to handle live, disabled scorpions
outperformed siblings previously given dead
scorpions.
• Practice = improves skill learning.

Question 22

Meerkats hunting with young. Is it teaching?

Answer 22

(1) modifies its behaviour. Normally eat prey straight away, but will kill or disable before giving to begging pup.

(2) at some cost. Sometimes the disabled scorpions will escape, takes time to disable.
A’s behaviour thereby encourages or punishes
B’s behaviour, or provides B with experience, or
sets an example for B.
Pups able to experience killing scorpions
without risk of being stung.

(3) As a result, B acquires knowledge, or learns a
skill earlier in life or more rapidly or efficiently than
it might otherwise do so, or would not learn at all.
• In an artificial experiment, pups given extra
opportunities to handle live, disabled scorpions
outperformed siblings previously given dead
scorpions.
• Practice = improves skill learning.

Question 23

What are the benefits of teaching in meerkats?

Answer 23

• In the long term, adults have to provide pups
with fewer meals
• Kin selection: increased pup survival
• Benefits of increased group size
(e.g. surveillance)

Question 24

Why isn’t teaching more common? Why is it that intelligent animals such as chimpanzees seemingly
do not teach if ants and bees are capable of doing so?

Answer 24

Teaching will evolve where its costs are
outweighed by inclusive fitness benefits (i.e.
if tutor’s relatives are more likely to acquire
valuable info)

BUT the benefits of teaching are reduced if
learners can acquire the skill through:
Asocial learning (trial & error)
Social learning

Question 25

What is the Rachet effect?

Answer 25

Over-imitation and teaching mean humans will
faithfully pass down ideas from generation to
generation.

This means ideas can start evolving themselves,
and so some can start incrementally increasing in
complexity.

We don’t need to reinvent the wheel each generation,
instead we build on past inventions that are passed down to us

Question 26

How did things such as oldowan tools get passed down the generations?

Answer 26

Reverse Engineering: pupils provided with a core and hammerstone for practice, see flakes
Imitation/Emulation: practise with core and hammerstone, also observe tutor making flakes
Basic Teaching: in addition to demonstrating tool production, tutors manually shape the pupil’s
grasp of their hammerstone or core, slow their own actions and reorient themselves to allow
the pupil a clear view
Gestural Teaching: tutors and pupils could also interact using any gestures, but no vocalizations
Verbal Teaching: tutors and pupils were also permitted to speak.

Question 27

What kind of social learning leads to

the transmission of Oldowan tools?

Answer 27

Simple stone tools created selection pressures for
increased communication via teaching, gesture and
language

Question 28

What kind of social learning leads to

the transmission of Oldowan tools?

Answer 28

Simple stone tools created selection pressures for
increased communication via teaching, gesture and
language

Question 29

What is Cumulative cultural evolution?

Answer 29

Evolution which doesn’t require re-inventing the wheel

Question 30

What are Pan-pipes

Answer 30

a device used to test chimps for the passing of traditions