Collaborative Research: The relative roles of ecology, evolution, and experience in solving novel problems

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Innovation and learning are fundamental human traits, but they are thought to be costly to evolve due to the cognitive capacities necessary to support them. This research project tests hypotheses relevant to understanding the context in which social learning emerges to uncover the selective pressures driving innovation, behavioral flexibility, and a propensity to learn from others. Specifically, this project investigates how ecological and social factors influence social transmission of information in primates with differing baseline use of social learning. The project provides much-needed field-based research opportunities for underrepresented and lower-income students. The project also improves research partnerships that build capacity at minority-serving institutions, and disseminates findings broadly to academic and non-academic audiences.The study investigates social learning among non-human primates that share many features with humans, including large brains relative to body size, extensive cooperation, innovative social conventions, and refined foraging skills. These characteristics make them excellent candidates for studying the factors that influence the emergence of innovation and social learning. This research investigates how evolutionary pressures, ecological need, and social experience influence problem-solving and social learning strategies in two closely-related species that differ in tool use and social traditions that may impact their propensity to innovate and learn from others. The project will compare a) problem solving, b) behavioral flexibility, and c) social learning strategies across these populations. This research will highlight the impacts of cognitive differences, ecological necessity, and previous experiences on individuals’ ability to solve novel problems and transmit that knowledge to others.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.