Øhrn Heidi, Sjursen Emilie Pettersen, Specht Karsten, Hugdahl Kenneth, Straffon Larissa Mendoza, Bender Andrea
Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
Front Psychol. 2025 May 7;16:1545120. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1545120. eCollection 2025.
Cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) is a fundamental aspect of human cognition, enabling the refinement and transmission of complex skills across generations. This study explores the cognitive abilities supporting CCE through a transmission chain design using a knot-tying task combined with brain imaging to examine how skills are acquired over successive learning and transmission stages. We obtained data from two chains of multiple generations of participants. Our results revealed generational modifications in knot-tying techniques accompanied by increased prefrontal cortex activation in later generations of learners, possibly suggesting that loss of information due to imperfect copying fidelity increases cognitive demands for working memory. Our study further shows the potential of brain imaging as a viable technique for investigating CCE. By applying functional MRI to track neural activity during the acquisition of knot-tying skills, we provide a novel approach for understanding the cognitive mechanisms that underlie cultural knowledge transfer. Further research integrating neuroimaging with behavioral studies could help clarify how cognitive and neural processes contribute to the accumulation and refinement of cultural knowledge over time.
累积文化进化（CCE）是人类认知的一个基本方面，它使得复杂技能能够在代际间得到优化和传承。本研究通过一种传递链设计来探索支持CCE的认知能力，该设计采用打结任务并结合脑成像技术，以考察在连续的学习和传递阶段技能是如何习得的。我们从两代多参与者的两条传递链中获取了数据。我们的结果显示，打结技术存在代际变化，并且在较晚一代的学习者中前额叶皮质的激活增加，这可能表明由于复制保真度不完美导致的信息丢失增加了工作记忆的认知需求。我们的研究进一步表明了脑成像作为一种可行技术用于研究CCE的潜力。通过应用功能磁共振成像来跟踪在习得打结技能过程中的神经活动，我们提供了一种新方法来理解文化知识传递背后的认知机制。将神经成像与行为研究相结合的进一步研究可能有助于阐明随着时间的推移认知和神经过程是如何促进文化知识的积累和优化的。
