Putting two and two together – a model of learning and memory in cultural evolution

Putting two and two together – a model of learning and memory in cultural evolution | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Putting two and two together – a model of learning and memory in cultural evolution Caius Gibeily This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3868288/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract To what extent do the cognitive capacities of learners shape the dynamics of cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution? To begin to address some of these questions, an individual-based model was built, incorporating the cognitive dynamics of working memory, long-term memory and learning strategies—imitation and learning by induction. By representing cultural values as hierarchically arranged sequences of unit token values, this work showed how the emergence of complex cultural representations depends on chunking, becomes constrained by working memory and is spatially limited by learning distance. Cultural token variants diverged into spatially clustered lineages with agent similarity scaling relative to distance, demonstrating the emergence of cultural systems built upon shared cultural variants. Moreover, by simulating a process of inductive learning, agents converged upon certain cultural primitives and complex tokens, thereby marrying aspects of cultural attractor theory with cumulative cultural evolution. The model offers some computational insight into the roles of imitation and inductive learning across the lifespan, showing that imitation occurred most in the first iterations of an agent’s lifespan and inductive inference throughout the adult lifespan, thereby shedding light on the proximal effects of cognitive capacities in the debate between replication and reconstruction of cultural values. Social learning human evolution cultural evolution working memory chunking imitation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Supplementarymaterials.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3868288","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":267530420,"identity":"b28ce030-7796-4c56-a16f-5adeb696a03e","order_by":0,"name":"Caius Gibeily","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABBElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxgYQyWPAwNh4gKECJspGnJaGAwxniNICBQZAfICxjQgt/O2H2yR/MNTKmLM3NxzmnWcTzS99xoDhQ9lhnFokziS2SfMwHOex7DkI1LItLXdmX44B44xzuLUYMAC1MDAc4zG4kQjScjh3wxkeA2beNjxa+B+CHAbUcv8hUMuc/xAtf/FpkUhsk+BhqAHawgjU0nAAooURjxaJGw+brXkMDgD9kthwcM6x5NyZPWwFB3vOpePUwt+f/vDmj4o6e3P24w8fvKmxy+3nYd744EeZNU4tUOdBnMHEA6Y4DA4QUA8CdWCS8QeYYn9AhI5RMApGwSgYQQAAFjVZpyxHFE8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Emory University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Caius","middleName":"","lastName":"Gibeily","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-01-16 01:29:08","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3868288/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3868288/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":75978264,"identity":"d8335e8e-aee0-4b91-a983-10516328273c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-11 07:02:40","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1800774,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"CGibeilyAmodeloflearningandmemoryinculturalevolution.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3868288/v1_covered_71410449-3343-4360-ae6f-393edaa5f890.pdf"},{"id":49775613,"identity":"42820e04-6987-4c1e-8b29-6e2c1a3a7e50","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-01-17 20:22:48","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":9204458,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Supplementarymaterials.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3868288/v1/e758486138f71c510ee3d4a1.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Putting two and two together – a model of learning and memory in cultural evolution","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Social learning, human evolution, cultural evolution, working memory, chunking, imitation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3868288/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3868288/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTo what extent do the cognitive capacities of learners shape the dynamics of cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution? 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