Work

Understanding the multiple factors governing social learning and the diffusion of innovations

Year: 2016

Type: review

Abstract: What animals learn from social interactions with others can profoundly shape their behaviour across a range of ecologically relevant contexts. In recent years, there has been a call for better efforts to identify social learning in wild animals, followed by a surge in observational and experimental studies. Here, I review the range of contexts in which social learning has been documented in wild animals, and argue that that the use of social learning is restricted by its adaptive utility; including when there is opportunity for social interactions during sensitive developmental periods, when personal information is hard or risky to obtain, and when social information can outperform asocial learning. I conclude by highlighting the further potential for social learning to act as a mechanism by which populations can exhibit behavioural responses to changing environments, via the diffusion of innovations.

Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.09.003

Author: Lucy Aplin

Institution: University of Oxford

Language: English

Topic: Primate Behavior and Ecology

Subfield: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,584

Funders: University of Oxford, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, St. John's College, University of Oxford