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Bickel B, Giraud AL, Zuberbühler K, van Schaik CP. Language follows a distinct mode of extra-genomic evolution. Phys Life Rev 2024; 50:211-225. [PMID: 39153248 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2024.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2024] [Accepted: 08/02/2024] [Indexed: 08/19/2024]
Abstract
As one of the most specific, yet most diverse of human behaviors, language is shaped by both genomic and extra-genomic evolution. Sharing methods and models between these modes of evolution has significantly advanced our understanding of language and inspired generalized theories of its evolution. Progress is hampered, however, by the fact that the extra-genomic evolution of languages, i.e. linguistic evolution, maps only partially to other forms of evolution. Contrasting it with the biological evolution of eukaryotes and the cultural evolution of technology as the best understood models, we show that linguistic evolution is special by yielding a stationary dynamic rather than stable solutions, and that this dynamic allows the use of language change for social differentiation while maintaining its global adaptiveness. Linguistic evolution furthermore differs from technological evolution by requiring vertical transmission, allowing the reconstruction of phylogenies; and it differs from eukaryotic biological evolution by foregoing a genotype vs phenotype distinction, allowing deliberate and biased change. Recognising these differences will improve our empirical tools and open new avenues for analyzing how linguistic, cultural, and biological evolution interacted with each other when language emerged in the hominin lineage. Importantly, our framework will help to cope with unprecedented scientific and ethical challenges that presently arise from how rapid cultural evolution impacts language, most urgently from interventional clinical tools for language disorders, potential epigenetic effects of technology on language, artificial intelligence and linguistic communicators, and global losses of linguistic diversity and identity. Beyond language, the distinctions made here allow identifying variation in other forms of biological and cultural evolution, developing new perspectives for empirical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Anne-Lise Giraud
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Institut de l'Audition, Institut Pasteur, INSERM, Université Paris Cité, France
| | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland; School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
| | - Carel P van Schaik
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
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Cebeiro A, Key A. Captive bonobos (Pan paniscus) apply precision grips when using flaked stone tools. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024; 183:e24759. [PMID: 37218536 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Revised: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Current evidence suggests that flaked stone tool technologies did not emerge until ~3.3-2.6 million-years-ago (Ma). It is often hypothesized that early hominin (principally Ardipithecus and early Australopithecus) manual anatomy may have prevented an earlier emergence, as the forceful precision grips essential to flake tool-use may have been ineffectively performed by these species. Marzke, Marchant, McGrew, and Reece (2015) observed potentially forceful pad-to-side precision grips being recruited by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) during feeding behaviors, indicating that Pan-like manual anatomy, and therefore potentially early hominin anatomy, may be capable of effectively securing flake stone tools during their use. MATERIALS AND METHODS Here, we report on the grips recruited by four captive, human-trained, bonobos (Pan paniscus) during the use of stone and organic tools, including flake stone tools during cutting behaviors. RESULTS It is revealed that pad-to-side precision grips are frequently recruited by these bonobos when securing stone flakes during cutting actions. In some instances, high forces could have been resisted and applied by the thumb and fingers. DISCUSSION While our analyzes are preliminary and limited to captive individuals, and Pan is not suggested to secure flakes with the same efficacy as Homo or Australopithecus, it points to early hominins potentially being able to perform the precision grips required to use flake stone tools. In turn, the ability to gain tangible benefits from the effective use of flake tools (i.e., gain energetic returns from processing food resources) may have been - at least anatomically - possible in early Australopithecus and other pre-Early Stone Age hominin species. In turn, hominin manual anatomy may not be a leading restriction on the emergence of the earliest stone tool technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adela Cebeiro
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Alastair Key
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Varallyay A, Beller N, Subiaul F. Generative cultural learning in children and adults: the role of compositionality and generativity in cultural evolution. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222418. [PMID: 37122258 PMCID: PMC10130722 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Are human cultures distinctively cumulative because they are uniquely compositional? We addressed this question using a summative learning paradigm where participants saw different models build different tower elements, consisting of discrete actions and objects: stacking cubes (tower base) and linking squares (tower apex). These elements could be combined to form a tower that was optimal in terms of height and structural soundness. In addition to measuring copying fidelity, we explored whether children and adults (i) extended the knowledge demonstrated to additional tower elements and (ii) productively combined them. Results showed that children and adults copied observed demonstrations and applied them to novel exemplars. However, only adults in the imitation condition combined the two newly derived base and apex, relative to adults in a control group. Nonetheless, there were remarkable similarities between children's and adults' performance across measures. Composite measures capturing errors and overall generativity in children's and adults' performance produced few population by condition interactions. Results suggest that early in development, humans possess a suite of cognitive skills-compositionality and generativity-that transforms phylogenetically widespread social learning competencies into something that may be unique to our species, cultural learning; allowing human cultures to evolve towards greater complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Varallyay
- The Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nathalia Beller
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Francys Subiaul
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
- Department of Anthropology, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
- Mind-Brain Institute, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
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Kulik V, Reyes LD, Sherwood CC. Coevolution of language and tools in the human brain: An ALE meta-analysis of neural activation during syntactic processing and tool use. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2023; 275:93-115. [PMID: 36841572 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2022.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Language and complex tool use are often cited as behaviors unique to humans and may be evolutionarily linked owing to the underlying cognitive processes they have in common. We executed a quantitative activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis (GingerALE 2.3) on published, whole-brain neuroimaging studies to identify areas associated with syntactic processing and/or tool use in humans. Significant clusters related to syntactic processing were identified in areas known to be related to language production and comprehension, including bilateral Broca's area in the inferior frontal gyrus. Tool use activation clusters were all in the left hemisphere and included the primary motor cortex and premotor cortex, in addition to other areas involved with sensorimotor transformation. Activation shared by syntactic processing and tool use was only significant at one cluster, located in the pars opercularis of the left inferior frontal gyrus. This minimal overlap between syntactic processing and tool use activation from our meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies indicates that there is not a widespread common neural network between the two. Broca's area may serve as an important hub that was initially recruited in early human evolution in the context of simple tool use, but was eventually co-opted for linguistic purposes, including the sequential and hierarchical ordering processes that characterize syntax. In the future, meta-analyses of additional components of language may allow for a more comprehensive examination of the functional networks that underlie the coevolution of human language and complex tool use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronika Kulik
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Laura D Reyes
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Chet C Sherwood
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
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Neuroplasticity enables bio-cultural feedback in Paleolithic stone-tool making. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2877. [PMID: 36807588 PMCID: PMC9938911 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29994-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Stone-tool making is an ancient human skill thought to have played a key role in the bio-cultural co-evolutionary feedback that produced modern brains, culture, and cognition. To test the proposed evolutionary mechanisms underpinning this hypothesis we studied stone-tool making skill learning in modern participants and examined interactions between individual neurostructural differences, plastic accommodation, and culturally transmitted behavior. We found that prior experience with other culturally transmitted craft skills increased both initial stone tool-making performance and subsequent neuroplastic training effects in a frontoparietal white matter pathway associated with action control. These effects were mediated by the effect of experience on pre-training variation in a frontotemporal pathway supporting action semantic representation. Our results show that the acquisition of one technical skill can produce structural brain changes conducive to the discovery and acquisition of additional skills, providing empirical evidence for bio-cultural feedback loops long hypothesized to link learning and adaptive change.
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Liu C, Stout D. Inferring cultural reproduction from lithic data: A critical review. Evol Anthropol 2022; 32:83-99. [PMID: 36245296 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2022] [Revised: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The cultural reproduction of lithic technology, long an implicit assumption of archaeological theories, has garnered increasing attention over the past decades. Major debates ranging from the origins of the human culture capacity to the interpretation of spatiotemporal patterning now make explicit reference to social learning mechanisms and cultural evolutionary dynamics. This burgeoning literature has produced important insights and methodological innovations. However, this rapid growth has sometimes led to confusion and controversy due to an under-examination of underlying theoretical and methodological assumptions. The time is thus ripe for a critical assessment of progress in the study of the cultural reproduction of lithic technology. Here we review recent work addressing the evolutionary origins of human culture and the meaning of artifact variation at both intrasite and intersite levels. We propose that further progress will require a more extended and context-specific evolutionary approach to address the complexity of real-world cultural reproduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheng Liu
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Dietrich Stout
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Lonsdorf EV, Sanz CM. Behavioral and cognitive perspectives on the evolution of tool use from wild chimpanzees. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Snyder WD, Reeves JS, Tennie C. Early knapping techniques do not necessitate cultural transmission. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabo2894. [PMID: 35857472 PMCID: PMC9258951 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo2894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Early stone tool production, or knapping, techniques are claimed to be the earliest evidence for cultural transmission in the human lineage. Previous experimental studies have trained human participants to knap in conditions involving opportunities for cultural transmission. Subsequent knapping was then interpreted as evidence for a necessity of the provided cultural transmission opportunities for these techniques. However, a valid necessity claim requires showing that individual learning alone cannot lead to early knapping techniques. Here, we tested human participants (N = 28) in cultural isolation for the individual learning of early knapping techniques by providing them with relevant raw materials and a puzzle task as motivation. Twenty-five participants were technique naïve according to posttest questionnaires, yet they individually learned early knapping techniques, therewith producing and using core and flake tools. Early knapping techniques thus do not necessitate cultural transmission of know-how and could likewise have been individually derived among premodern hominins.
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Affiliation(s)
- William D. Snyder
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Jonathan S. Reeves
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Technological Primates Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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Gruber T, Chimento M, Aplin LM, Biro D. Efficiency fosters cumulative culture across species. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200308. [PMID: 34894729 PMCID: PMC8666915 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies in several taxa have demonstrated that animal culture can evolve to become more efficient in various contexts ranging from tool use to route learning and migration. Under recent definitions, such increases in efficiency might satisfy the core criteria of cumulative cultural evolution (CCE). However, there is not yet a satisfying consensus on the precise definition of efficiency, CCE or the link between efficiency and more complex, extended forms of CCE considered uniquely human. To bring clarity to this wider discussion of CCE, we develop the concept of efficiency by (i) reviewing recent potential evidence for CCE in animals, and (ii) clarifying a useful definition of efficiency by synthesizing perspectives found within the literature, including animal studies and the wider iterated learning literature. Finally, (iii) we discuss what factors might impinge on the informational bottleneck of social transmission, and argue that this provides pressure for learnable behaviours across species. We conclude that framing CCE in terms of efficiency casts complexity in a new light, as learnable behaviours are a requirement for the evolution of complexity. Understanding how efficiency greases the ratchet of cumulative culture provides a better appreciation of how similar cultural evolution can be between taxonomically diverse species-a case for continuity across the animal kingdom. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. Gruber
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - M. Chimento
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - L. M. Aplin
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - D. Biro
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
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