Evolution of costly explicit memory and cumulative culture

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Evolutionary Biology
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Human cumulative culture relies on explicit memory (semantic and episodic), with episodic memory unique to humans and crucial for innovation.
• Previous models overlooked memory as an evolutionary trait, focusing on environmental influences on social (imitation) and individual (innovation) learning.
• Efficient information storage and retrieval are vital for modifying knowledge and driving cultural evolution, but costly memory systems may favor forgetting and relearning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the coevolution of costly memory (storage and retrieval) with social and individual learning under cumulative culture.
• To determine if cumulative culture can overcome the potential disadvantages of costly memory systems.
• To analyze the influence of social learning costs and cultural levels on memory and learning evolution.

Main Methods:

• Mathematical analysis of evolutionary game theory models.
• Individual-based simulations to model cultural transmission and memory dynamics.
• Comparative analysis with and without the presence of cumulative culture.

Main Results:

• Without cumulative culture, costly storage-retrieval requires social learning costs to evolve; high-quality social learning is disfavored when forgetting-relearning is cheaper.
• Cumulative culture, by enhancing individual fitness, facilitates the evolution of storage-retrieval alongside social and/or individual learning.
• The degree of social learning cost does not impede memory evolution when cumulative culture is present.

Conclusions:

• Cumulative culture is a significant driver for the evolution of costly memory systems, enabling their coevolution with learning strategies.
• The presence of cumulative culture shifts the evolutionary balance, favoring robust memory mechanisms over simpler learning and forgetting cycles.
• Understanding the interplay between memory, learning, and cumulative culture is key to explaining human cognitive and cultural evolution.