Data from: Cultural evolution of systematically structured behaviour in a non-human primate

Culture pervades human life and is at the origin of the success of our species. A wide range of other animals have culture too, but often in a limited form that does not complexify through the gradual accumulation of innovations. We developed a new paradigm to study cultural evolution in primates in order to better evaluate our closest relatives' cultural capacities. Previous studies using transmission chain experimental paradigms, in which the behavioural output of one individual becomes the target behaviour for the next individual in the chain, show that cultural transmission can lead to the progressive emergence of systematically structured behaviours in humans. Inspired by this work, we combined a pattern reproduction task on touch screens with an iterated learning procedure to develop transmission chains of baboons (Papio papio). Using this procedure, we show that baboons can exhibit three fundamental aspects of human cultural evolution: a progressive increase in performance, the emergence of systematic structure and the presence of lineage specificity. Our results shed new light on human uniqueness: we share with our closest relatives essential capacities to produce human-like cultural evolution.

文化渗透于人类生活的方方面面，亦是人类物种得以繁衍昌盛的核心根源。诸多其他动物同样具备文化，但这类文化往往形式有限，无法通过创新的逐步积累实现复杂度的升级。为更精准地评估我们的近缘类群的文化能力，我们开发了一套用于研究灵长类动物文化演化的全新实验范式（paradigm）。此前采用传递链实验范式（transmission chain experimental paradigm）的研究表明，此类范式的核心逻辑为：某一个体的行为产出会成为链中下一个体的目标行为，而文化传播可促使人类逐步形成具有系统性结构的行为模式。受此研究启发，我们将触摸屏图案再现任务与迭代学习程序（iterated learning procedure）相结合，构建了狒狒（Papio papio）的传递链实验体系。借助该实验流程，我们发现狒狒能够展现出人类文化演化的三大核心特征：任务表现的逐步提升、系统性结构的形成，以及谱系特异性（lineage specificity）的存在。本研究结果为人类独特性的探讨提供了全新视角：我们与近缘类群共享能够催生类人文化演化的核心能力。