ReviewThe Journal of experimental biology2017
How social learning adds up to a culture: from birdsong to human public opinion.
Review in The Journal of experimental biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Lack of sex-specific syllables and high female song variability support relaxed selection on female song in Orchard Orioles (The Wilson journal of ornithology · 2025Article
- Learning mimetic cuckoo call innovations from neighbors in a Chinese songbird.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Machine learning reveals cryptic dialects that explain mate choice in a songbird.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- The Role of the Endogenous Opioid System in the Vocal Behavior of Songbirds and Its Possible Role in Vocal Learning.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Review
- Balanced imitation sustains song culture in zebra finches.Nature communications · 2021Article
- The Role of the Learner in the Cultural Evolution of Vocalizations.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Mechanisms of Cultural Evolution in the Songs of Wild Bird Populations.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Review
- Towards an integrated view of vocal development.PLoS biology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Distributed social learning may occur at many temporal and spatial scales, but it rarely adds up to a stable culture. Cultures vary in stability and diversity (polymorphism), ranging from chaotic or drifting cultures, through cumulative polymorphic cultures, to stable monolithic cultures with high conformity levels. What features can sustain polymorphism, preventing cultures from collapsing into either chaotic or highly conforming states? We investigate this question by integrating studies across two quite separate disciplines: the emergence of song cultures in birds, and the spread of public opinion and social conventions in humans. In songbirds, the learning process has been studied in great detail, while in human studies the structure of social networks has been experimentally manipulated on large scales. In both cases, the manner in which communication signals are compressed and filtered - either during learning or while traveling through the social network - can affect culture polymorphism and stability. We suggest a simple mechanism of a shifting balance between converging and diverging social forces to explain these effects. Understanding social forces that shape cultural evolution might be useful for designing agile communication systems, which are stable and polymorphic enough to promote gradual changes in institutional behavior.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.