Title: Evolution of individual learning and social learning
Abstract: The driving force behind cultural evolution is learning. Individual learning is a form of learning in which individuals generate new knowledge through trial and error, which is costly but leads to innovation. Social learning, on the other hand, is a form of learning in which knowledge is acquired through imitation of others. Although it is less costly, it does not produce innovation but contributes to cultural transmission. Thus, these two types of learning form the two wheels of cultural evolution, namely “production” and “transmission” of knowledge. Because individual learning is a costly behavior, a social dilemma arises as to who produces the knowledge.
In this seminar, I will introduce two mathematical models of learning from my recent research and discuss aspects of this dilemma. The first model focuses on the aspect of who produces knowledge. I will show that hierarchy of individuals, such as dominance hierarchy, is the key. The second model introduces the trade-off between learning and reproduction. The result shows that the evolutionarily stable amount of individual learning is highly dependent on the mode of knowledge transmission in social learning.