Social learning and behaviour transmission in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)
Abstract
The research aims of this thesis are to experimentally investigate how behaviours
spread socially, and what factors contribute to the development of group-wide
social traditions in capuchins (Cebus apella). Given the apparent convergent
evolution between such monkeys and great apes, capuchin traditions are of great
interest anthropologically and for a biological and psychological understanding of
culture. Several studies have investigated social learning in capuchins, but few have
made headway into understanding how it supports the development of traditions
either in the wild or in captivity. By experimentally introducing novel foraging
behaviours into several captive groups, the studies included in this thesis simulate
the development of foraging behaviours so that their spread can be studied from
various viewpoints. Five experiments are presented investigating: (1) the chained
transmission of foraging behaviours, (2) the role of social facilitation on the rate of
individual learning, (3) the fidelity of learning from localised stimulus enhancement
& object-movement re-enactment, (4) the quality of individual relationships in the
social transmission of novel foraging techniques, and (5) the open diffusion of
group-specific foraging behaviours in capuchin monkeys. Together, these
experiments explore how traditions may develop, ranging from individual learning
to how behaviour patterns may spread socially based on social ties within the
group.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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