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Childhood in social learning models with changing environments: Implications for human evolution.

Serena J Holte¹, Paul R Ohmann¹

¹Department of Physics, University of Saint Thomas, St. Paul MN, 55105, USA.

|October 3, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

A longer childhood aids social learning and resource acquisition in stable environments, but this advantage diminishes in unpredictable or rapidly changing conditions, impacting early human evolution and migration.

Keywords:

Childhood Human evolution Out of Africa migration Resource acquisition Serial founder model Social learning

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Cognitive science
Anthropology

Background:

Childhood represents a significant resource cost and period of vulnerability.
Social learning through observation competes with individual innovation for knowledge acquisition.
The duration of childhood influences cognitive development and its impact on fitness.

Purpose of the Study:

To model the trade-offs between social learning and innovation across generations in varying environments.
To investigate how childhood duration and environmental stability affect resource acquisition and fitness.
To explore the implications for hominid evolution and the Out of Africa migration.

Main Methods:

Agent-based modeling simulating resource acquisition scenarios.
Multi-generational simulations across diverse environmental conditions.
Analysis of fitness advantages conferred by social learning versus self-exploration.

Main Results:

Social learning generally leads to more efficient knowledge gain and greater resource acquisition than innovation.
A substantial childhood burden enhances lifetime resource acquisition through social learning in stable environments.
The benefits of social learning decrease with environmental unpredictability and reverse in rapidly changing environments.

Conclusions:

Stable environments may have facilitated hominid evolution by supporting longer childhoods and advanced cognitive abilities through social learning.
Hominid populations were likely vulnerable to environmental instability, impacting their spread and survival.
Findings align with the serial founder model of Homo sapiens migration out of Africa, highlighting the role of social learning.