Cognitive flexibility supports the development of cumulative cultural learning in children

The scale of cumulative cultural evolution (CCE), the improvement of cultural traits over generations via social transmission, is widely believed to be one of humans’ most defining characteristics. Our capacity to build upon others' knowledge, skills, and technologies has produced the most diverse and complex technological repertoire on the planet. Despite growing interest in the field of CCE, the cognitive underpinnings supporting its development remain relatively understudied. In this study, we examined the role that cognitive flexibility plays in supporting cumulative cultural learning by studying U.S. children’s (N = 167, 3-5-year-olds) propensity to relinquish an inefficient solution to a problem in favor of a more efficient alternative. We also examined whether children would resist reverting back to earlier versions and omit redundant actions from previous behaviors. In contrast to previous work with chimpanzees, most children who first learned to solve a puzzlebox in a highly in...