Psychology, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton Campus, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK.
Phys Life Rev. 2019 Oct;30:47-71. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2019.04.004. Epub 2019 Apr 11.
Humans are fundamentally defined by our socially transmitted, often long-lived, sophisticated cultural traits. The nature of cultural transmission is the subject of ongoing debate: while some emphasize that it is a biased, transformational process, others point out that high-fidelity transmission is required to explain the quintessentially cumulative nature of human culture. This paper integrates both views into a model that has two main components: First, actions - observable motor-behavioural patterns - are inherited with high fidelity, or replicated, when they are copied, largely independently of their normal, effective or conventional function, by naive learners. Replicative action copying is the unbiased transmission process that ensures the continuity of cultural traditions. Second, mental culture - knowledge, skills, attitudes and values - is not inherited directly or faithfully, but instead emerges, or develops, during usage, when individuals learn the associations between actions and their contexts and outcomes. Mental cultural traits remain stable over generations to the extent that they are informed by similar (replicated) motor patterns unfolding in similar environments. The arguments in support of this model rest on clear distinctions between inheritance and usage; between public-behavioural and private-mental culture; and between selection for fidelity and selection for function.
人类本质上是由我们通过社会传播的、通常具有长期生命力的复杂文化特征所定义的。文化传播的本质是一个正在进行的争论的主题：虽然有些人强调它是一个有偏见的、变革性的过程，但另一些人则指出，为了解释人类文化的典型累积性质，需要进行高保真度的传播。本文将这两种观点整合到一个模型中，该模型有两个主要组成部分：第一，行动——可观察的运动行为模式——以高保真度或复制的方式遗传，当它们被天真的学习者复制时，主要独立于其正常、有效或传统的功能。复制的行动复制是确保文化传统连续性的无偏见传播过程。第二，心理文化——知识、技能、态度和价值观——不是直接或忠实地遗传的，而是在使用过程中出现或发展的，当个体学习到行动与其上下文和结果之间的关联时。心理文化特征在几代人之间保持稳定的程度取决于它们是否受到在类似环境中展开的类似（复制的）运动模式的影响。支持这一模型的论据基于以下几个方面的明确区分：遗传与使用；公共行为文化与私人心理文化；保真度选择与功能选择。
