Skill learning and the evolution of social learning mechanisms

Daniel J Van Der Post,Mathias Franz,Kevin N Laland

doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0742-9

Daniel J Van Der Post, Mathias Franz + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0742-9

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Abstract

BackgroundSocial learning is potentially advantageous, but evolutionary theory predicts that (i) its benefits may be self-limiting because social learning can lead to information parasitism, and (ii) these limitations can be mitigated via forms of selective copying. However, these findings arise from a functional approach in which learning mechanisms are not specified, and which assumes that social learning avoids the costs of asocial learning but does not produce information about the environment. Whether these findings generalize to all kinds of social learning remains to be established. Using a detailed multi-scale evolutionary model, we investigate the payoffs and information production processes of specific social learning mechanisms (including local enhancement, stimulus enhancement and observational learning) and their evolutionary consequences in the context of skill learning in foraging groups.ResultsWe find that local enhancement does not benefit foraging success, but could evolve as a side-effect of grouping. In contrast, stimulus enhancement and observational learning can be beneficial across a wide range of environmental conditions because they generate opportunities for new learning outcomes.ConclusionsIn contrast to much existing theory, we find that the functional outcomes of social learning are mechanism specific. Social learning nearly always produces information about the environment, and does not always avoid the costs of asocial learning or support information parasitism. Our study supports work emphasizing the value of incorporating mechanistic detail in functional analyses.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0742-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Social learning is potentially advantageous, but evolutionary theory predicts that (i) its benefits may be self-limiting because social learning can lead to information parasitism, and (ii) these limitations can be mitigated via forms of selective copying
Energy levels We find that the three different social learning mechanisms lead to different evolved energy levels (Fig. 2a and b)
Comparison of solitary foragers (SOL) with groups with only local enhancement (GLE), which represents grouping effects alone, reveals that grouping either reduces or has no clear effect on energy levels compared to solitary foraging (Fig. 2c and d, solid lines)

Summary

Introduction

Social learning is potentially advantageous, but evolutionary theory predicts that (i) its benefits may be self-limiting because social learning can lead to information parasitism, and (ii) these limitations can be mitigated via forms of selective copying These findings arise from a functional approach in which learning mechanisms are not specified, and which assumes that social learning avoids the costs of asocial learning but does not produce information about the environment. Social learning is typically implemented as a strategy that ‘avoids the costs’ of asocial learning by copying existing behavior, but does not produce information about the environment This ‘avoiding costs’ scenario makes sense given that social learning may increase the rate of learning (alleviate time costs), lead to less energy expenditure (alleviate energy costs), and/or avoid risks such as poisoning (reduce risk costs)

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