Tan Amanda W Y, Hemelrijk Charlotte K, Malaivijitnond Suchinda, Gumert Michael D
Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637332, Singapore.
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA.
Anim Cogn. 2018 Jul;21(4):551-563. doi: 10.1007/s10071-018-1188-9. Epub 2018 May 12.
Examining how animals direct social learning during skill acquisition under natural conditions, generates data for examining hypotheses regarding how transmission biases influence cultural change in animal populations. We studied a population of macaques on Koram Island, Thailand, and examined model-based biases during interactions by unskilled individuals with tool-using group members. We first compared the prevalence of interactions (watching, obtaining food, object exploration) and proximity to tool users during interactions, in developing individuals (infants, juveniles) versus mature non-learners (adolescents, adults), to provide evidence that developing individuals are actively seeking information about tool use from social partners. All infants and juveniles, but only 49% of mature individuals carried out interacted with tool users. Macaques predominantly obtained food by scrounging or stealing, suggesting maximizing scrounging opportunities motivates interactions with tool users. However, while interactions by adults was limited to obtaining food, young macaques and particularly infants also watched tool users and explored objects, indicating additional interest in tool use itself. We then ran matrix correlations to identify interaction biases, and what attributes of tool users influenced these. Biases correlated with social affiliation, but macaques also preferentially targeted tool users that potentially increase scrounging and learning opportunities. Results suggest that social structure may constrain social learning, but the motivation to bias interactions towards tool users to maximize feeding opportunities may also socially modulate learning by facilitating close proximity to better tool users, and further interest in tool-use actions and materials, especially during development.
研究动物在自然条件下技能习得过程中如何引导社会学习，可为检验有关传播偏差如何影响动物种群文化变化的假设提供数据。我们研究了泰国科拉姆岛的一群猕猴，并考察了无技能个体与使用工具的群体成员互动过程中基于模型的偏差。我们首先比较了发育个体（婴儿、幼猴）与成熟非学习者（青少年、成年猴）在互动过程中互动（观察、获取食物、物体探索）的发生率以及与工具使用者的接近程度，以证明发育个体正在积极地从社会伙伴那里寻求有关工具使用的信息。所有婴儿和幼猴，但只有49%的成熟个体与工具使用者进行了互动。猕猴主要通过偷窃或抢夺来获取食物，这表明最大化抢夺机会促使它们与工具使用者互动。然而，虽然成年猴的互动仅限于获取食物，但幼猴，尤其是婴儿也会观察工具使用者并探索物体，这表明它们对工具使用本身有额外的兴趣。然后我们进行矩阵相关性分析以确定互动偏差，以及工具使用者的哪些属性影响了这些偏差。偏差与社会关系相关，但猕猴也优先选择那些可能增加抢夺和学习机会的工具使用者。结果表明，社会结构可能会限制社会学习，但为了最大化进食机会而偏向于与工具使用者互动的动机，也可能通过促进与更优秀工具使用者的近距离接触，以及对工具使用行为和材料产生进一步兴趣，尤其是在发育过程中，从而在社会层面调节学习。
