Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Towards a biology of traditions
- 2 What the models say about social learning
- 3 Relative brain size and the distribution of innovation and social learning across the nonhuman primates
- 4 Social learning about food in birds
- 5 The cue reliability approach to social transmission: designing tests for adaptive traditions
- 6 “Traditional” foraging behaviors of brown and black rats (Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus)
- 7 Food for thought: social learning about food in feeding capuchin monkeys
- 8 Traditions in mammalian and avian vocal communication
- 9 Like mother, like calf: the ontogeny of foraging traditions in wild Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.)
- 10 Biological and ecological foundations of primate behavioral tradition
- 11 Local traditions in orangutans and chimpanzees: social learning and social tolerance
- 12 Developmental perspectives on great ape traditions
- 13 Do brown capuchins socially learn foraging skills?
- 14 Traditions in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys
- 15 Conclusions and research agendas
- Further reading
- Index
- References
8 - Traditions in mammalian and avian vocal communication
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Towards a biology of traditions
- 2 What the models say about social learning
- 3 Relative brain size and the distribution of innovation and social learning across the nonhuman primates
- 4 Social learning about food in birds
- 5 The cue reliability approach to social transmission: designing tests for adaptive traditions
- 6 “Traditional” foraging behaviors of brown and black rats (Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus)
- 7 Food for thought: social learning about food in feeding capuchin monkeys
- 8 Traditions in mammalian and avian vocal communication
- 9 Like mother, like calf: the ontogeny of foraging traditions in wild Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.)
- 10 Biological and ecological foundations of primate behavioral tradition
- 11 Local traditions in orangutans and chimpanzees: social learning and social tolerance
- 12 Developmental perspectives on great ape traditions
- 13 Do brown capuchins socially learn foraging skills?
- 14 Traditions in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys
- 15 Conclusions and research agendas
- Further reading
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
The most basic definition of traditions used by biologists is the one given by Fragaszy and Perry in Ch. 1. It states that traditions are enduring behavior patterns that are shared by at least two individuals and that are acquired in part through social learning. Laland, Richerson, and Boyd (1993) distinguished between two forms of social learning. The first involves primarily horizontal information transmission (i.e., between animals of the same generation) in which information is of only transient value, as in the acquisition of foraging information in a highly variable environment. In the second, information is transmitted vertically (between generations) and results in what Laland et al. (1993) call stable traditions. In this definition, socially learned information has to remain in the population for a certain period of time before it can be called a tradition. These two forms appear not to be exclusive but rather are placed at different points on a continuum. However, it is useful to consider the results of social learning in this theoretical framework to demonstrate how social learning in communication systems differs from that in other domains. We will use these concepts to review vocal traditions in mammals and birds.
By definition, every form of learning about communication has to involve another individual since communication involves at least two individuals. The only exception is learning to change the quality of a signal through practicing. However, this can be recognized by observing the performance of an isolated individual as it changes.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Biology of TraditionsModels and Evidence, pp. 213 - 235Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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