Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia.
Biomathematics Research Centre, University of Canterbury.
Cogn Sci. 2020 Sep;44(9):e12878. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12878.
Autocatalytic networks have been used to model the emergence of self-organizing structure capable of sustaining life and undergoing biological evolution. Here, we model the emergence of cognitive structure capable of undergoing cultural evolution. Mental representations (MRs) of knowledge and experiences play the role of catalytic molecules, and interactions among them (e.g., the forging of new associations) play the role of reactions and result in representational redescription. The approach tags MRs with their source, that is, whether they were acquired through social learning, individual learning (of pre-existing information), or creative thought (resulting in the generation of new information). This makes it possible to model how cognitive structure emerges and to trace lineages of cumulative culture step by step. We develop a formal representation of the cultural transition from Oldowan to Acheulean tool technology using Reflexively Autocatalytic and Food set generated (RAF) networks. Unlike more primitive Oldowan stone tools, the Acheulean hand axe required not only the capacity to envision and bring into being something that did not yet exist, but hierarchically structured thought and action, and the generation of new MRs: the concepts EDGING, THINNING, SHAPING, and a meta-concept, HAND AXE. We show how this constituted a key transition toward the emergence of semantic networks that were self-organizing, self-sustaining, and autocatalytic, and we discuss how such networks replicated through social interaction. The model provides a promising approach to unraveling one of the greatest anthropological mysteries: that of why development of the Acheulean hand axe was followed by over a million years of cultural stasis.
自催化网络已被用于模拟能够维持生命并经历生物进化的自组织结构的出现。在这里，我们模拟能够经历文化进化的认知结构的出现。知识和经验的心理表象 (MR) 充当催化分子的作用，它们之间的相互作用（例如，形成新的联想）充当反应的作用，并导致表象重述。该方法为 MR 打上来源标签，即它们是通过社会学习、个体学习（已有信息的学习）还是创造性思维（导致新信息的产生）获得的。这使得能够模拟认知结构是如何出现的，并逐步追踪累积文化的谱系。我们使用 Reflexively Autocatalytic and Food set generated (RAF) 网络为从旧石器时代到阿舍利石器技术的文化转变建立了正式的表示。与更原始的旧石器时代石器不同，阿舍利手斧不仅需要想象和创造尚未存在的东西的能力，还需要层次结构的思维和行动，以及新的 MR 的产生：EDGING、THINNING、SHAPING 的概念，以及一个元概念，HAND AXE。我们展示了这如何构成向自组织、自我维持和自催化的语义网络出现的关键转变，我们还讨论了这些网络如何通过社会互动复制。该模型为解开最大的人类学之谜之一提供了一个有前途的方法：为什么阿舍利手斧的发展之后会有超过一百万年的文化停滞。
