Centre for Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Division of Applied Mathematics, Mälardalen University, Box 883, 721 23 Västerås, Sweden.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021 Jul 5;376(1828):20200045. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0045. Epub 2021 May 17.
A specific goal of the field of cultural evolution is to understand how processes of transmission and selection at the individual level lead to population-wide patterns of cultural diversity and change. Models of cultural evolution have typically assumed that traits are independent of one another and essentially exchangeable. But culture has a structure: traits bear relationships to one another that affect the transmission and selection process itself. Here, we introduce a modelling framework to explore the effect of interdependencies on the process of learning. Through simulations, we find that introducing a simple structure changes the cultural dynamics. Based on a basic filtering mechanism for parsing trait relationships, more elaborate cultural filters emerge. In a mostly incompatible cultural domain of traits, these filters organize culture into mostly (but not fully) consistent and stable systems. Incompatible domains produce small homogeneous cultures, while more compatibility increases size, diversity and group divergence. When individuals copy based on a trait's features (here, its compatibility relationships), they produce more homogeneous cultures than when they copy based on the agent carrying the cultural trait. We discuss the implications of considering cultural systems and filters in the dynamics of cultural change. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
文化进化领域的一个特定目标是了解个体层面的传播和选择过程如何导致文化多样性和变化的群体模式。文化进化模型通常假设特征彼此独立，本质上是可互换的。但文化具有结构：特征之间存在相互关系，影响传播和选择过程本身。在这里，我们引入了一个建模框架来探索相互依存关系对学习过程的影响。通过模拟，我们发现引入一个简单的结构会改变文化动态。基于解析特征关系的基本过滤机制，出现了更精细的文化过滤器。在一个特征的文化域中，这些过滤器将文化组织成大部分（但不是完全）一致和稳定的系统。不兼容的域产生小的同质文化，而更多的兼容性会增加规模、多样性和群体分歧。当个体根据特征（这里是其兼容性关系）的特征进行复制时，他们产生的文化比根据携带文化特征的个体进行复制时更加同质。我们讨论了在文化变化动态中考虑文化系统和过滤器的意义。本文是“文化进化基础”主题特刊的一部分。
