IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/thpobi/v78y2010i3p211-224.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evolution of learning capacities and learning levels

Author

Listed:
  • Nakahashi, Wataru

Abstract

Humans strongly depend on individual and social learning, both of which are highly effective and accurate. I study the effects of environmental change on the evolution of the effectiveness and accuracy of individual and social learning (individual and social learning levels) and the number of pieces of information learned individually and socially (individual and social learning capacities) by analyzing a mathematical model. I show that individual learning capacity decreases and social learning capacity increases when the environment becomes more stable; both decrease when the environment becomes milder. I also show that individual learning capacity increases when individual learning level increases or social learning level decreases, while social learning capacity increases when individual or social learning level increases. The evolution of high learning levels can be triggered when the environment becomes severe, but a high social learning level can evolve only when a high individual learning level can simultaneously evolve with it.

Suggested Citation

  • Nakahashi, Wataru, 2010. "Evolution of learning capacities and learning levels," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 211-224.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:78:y:2010:i:3:p:211-224
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2010.08.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040580910000778
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tpb.2010.08.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christoph P. E. Zollikofer & Marcia S. Ponce de León & Daniel E. Lieberman & Franck Guy & David Pilbeam & Andossa Likius & Hassane T. Mackaye & Patrick Vignaud & Michel Brunet, 2005. "Virtual cranial reconstruction of Sahelanthropus tchadensis," Nature, Nature, vol. 434(7034), pages 755-759, April.
    2. Michel Brunet & Franck Guy & David Pilbeam & Daniel E. Lieberman & Andossa Likius & Hassane T. Mackaye & Marcia S. Ponce de León & Christoph P. E. Zollikofer & Patrick Vignaud, 2005. "New material of the earliest hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad," Nature, Nature, vol. 434(7034), pages 752-755, April.
    3. Marcus W. Feldman & Kenichi Aoki & Jochen Kumm, 1996. "Individual Versus Social Learning: Evolutionary Analysis in a Fluctuating Environment," Working Papers 96-05-030, Santa Fe Institute.
    4. Ihara, Yasuo, 2008. "Spread of costly prestige-seeking behavior by social learning," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 148-157.
    5. Nakahashi, Wataru, 2008. "Quantitative genetic models of sexual selection by male choice," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 167-181.
    6. Aoki, Kenichi & Nakahashi, Wataru, 2008. "Evolution of learning in subdivided populations that occupy environmentally heterogeneous sites," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 74(4), pages 356-368.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nakahashi, Wataru, 2013. "Evolution of improvement and cumulative culture," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 30-38.
    2. Aoki, Kenichi & Feldman, Marcus W., 2014. "Evolution of learning strategies in temporally and spatially variable environments: A review of theory," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 3-19.
    3. Mullon, Charles & Lehmann, Laurent, 2017. "Invasion fitness for gene–culture co-evolution in family-structured populations and an application to cumulative culture under vertical transmission," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 33-46.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wakano, Joe Y. & Kawasaki, Kohkichi & Shigesada, Nanako & Aoki, Kenichi, 2011. "Coexistence of individual and social learners during range expansion," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 132-140.
    2. Nakahashi, Wataru, 2013. "Evolution of improvement and cumulative culture," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 30-38.
    3. Ohtsuki, Hisashi & Wakano, Joe Yuichiro & Kobayashi, Yutaka, 2017. "Inclusive fitness analysis of cumulative cultural evolution in an island-structured population," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 13-23.
    4. Aoki, Kenichi & Feldman, Marcus W., 2014. "Evolution of learning strategies in temporally and spatially variable environments: A review of theory," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 3-19.
    5. Kobayashi, Yutaka & Ohtsuki, Hisashi, 2014. "Evolution of social versus individual learning in a subdivided population revisited: Comparative analysis of three coexistence mechanisms using the inclusive-fitness method," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 78-87.
    6. Aoki, Kenichi, 2015. "Modeling abrupt cultural regime shifts during the Palaeolithic and Stone Age," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 6-12.
    7. Guzmán, Ricardo Andrés & Rodríguez-Sickert, Carlos & Rowthorn, Robert, 2006. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do: the coevolution of altruistic punishment, conformist learning, and cooperation," MPRA Paper 2037, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Kandler, Anne & Laland, Kevin N., 2009. "An investigation of the relationship between innovation and cultural diversity," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 59-67.
    9. Borofsky, Talia & Feldman, Marcus W., 2022. "Success-biased social learning in a one-consumer, two-resource model," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 29-35.
    10. N. Marshall & I. Gordon & A. Ash, 2011. "The reluctance of resource-users to adopt seasonal climate forecasts to enhance resilience to climate variability on the rangelands," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 511-529, August.
    11. Ricardo Guzman & Robert Rowthorn & Carlos Rodríguez Sickert, 2008. "Teorías De La Evolución Del Comportamiento Cooperativo: Una Revisión Crítica," Abante, Escuela de Administracion. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 11(1), pages 3-18.
    12. Arbilly, Michal & Laland, Kevin N., 2014. "The local enhancement conundrum: In search of the adaptive value of a social learning mechanism," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 50-57.
    13. Badaoui, Eliane & Mangiavacchi, Lucia, 2022. "Assessing the impact of fostering on children’s outcomes in Niger," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    14. Victoria M Arbour & Philip J Currie, 2012. "Analyzing Taphonomic Deformation of Ankylosaur Skulls Using Retrodeformation and Finite Element Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(6), pages 1-13, June.
    15. Takahashi, Takuya & Ihara, Yasuo, 2019. "Cultural and evolutionary dynamics with best-of-k learning when payoffs are uncertain," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 27-38.
    16. Rowthorn, Robert E. & Guzmán, Ricardo Andrés & Rodríguez-Sickert, Carlos, 2009. "Theories of the evolution of cooperative behaviour: A critical survey plus some new results," MPRA Paper 12574, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Ram, Yoav & Liberman, Uri & Feldman, Marcus W., 2019. "Vertical and oblique cultural transmission fluctuating in time and in space," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 11-19.
    18. Ihara, Yasuo, 2008. "Spread of costly prestige-seeking behavior by social learning," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 148-157.
    19. Takashi Michikawa & Hiromasa Suzuki & Masaki Moriguchi & Naomichi Ogihara & Osamu Kondo & Yasushi Kobayashi, 2017. "Automatic extraction of endocranial surfaces from CT images of crania," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, April.
    20. Chester Wai-Jen Liu & Sheng-Feng Shen & Wei-Chung Liu, 2021. "On the evolution of social ties as an instrumental tool for resource competition in resource patch networks," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-18, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:78:y:2010:i:3:p:211-224. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.