I argue that the evolution of our life history, with its distinctively long, protected human
childhood, allows an early period of broad hypothesis search and exploration, before the …

In recent years, the phenomenon of cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) has become the
focus of major research interest in biology, psychology and anthropology. Some researchers …

Humans possess an extraordinary capacity for cultural production, from the arts and
language to science and technology. How did the human mind—and the uniquely human …

In the songs and bubble feeding of humpback whales; in young killer whales learning to
knock a seal from an ice floe in the same way their mother does; and in the use of sea …

Cumulative technological culture (CTC) refers to the increase in the efficiency and
complexity of tools and techniques in human populations over generations. A fascinating …

In recent decades, a burgeoning literature has documented the cultural transmission of
behavior through social learning in numerous vertebrate and invertebrate species. One …

Of all the things we do and say, most will never be repeated or reproduced. Once in a while,
however, an idea or a practice generates a chain of transmission that covers more distance …

When published in 1980, Benjamin B. Beck's Animal Tool Behavior was the first volume to
catalog and analyze the complete literature on tool use and manufacture in non-human …

Studies of collective intelligence in animal groups typically overlook potential improvement
through learning. Although knowledge accumulation is recognized as a major advantage of …

Some researchers have claimed that chimpanzee and human culture rest on homologous
cognitive and learning mechanisms. While clearly there are some homologous mechanisms …