Doctoral Dissertation Research: Ontogeny of Recognition Systems

摘要（IBN 9423593）实验证据表明，许多动物物种在生殖模式方面表现出出生时的种群偏好。在本研究中，一个鸟类的文化进化模型被用来探索社会学习如何在这种繁殖模式中起作用。在繁殖季节之前，不同种群的被试在不同的社会种群中暴露很长时间。然后测试繁殖偏好。测量个体偏好发展的近似动态。此外，还测量了个体交流生殖偏好的行为，特别是发声的使用和对发声的反应。初步结果证实，社会学习对生殖偏好的传递有直接影响。提出的研究更深入地探索了学习机制的本质，并测试了学习偏好是否可以传递给后代的个体。如果这种文化上的、跨代的遗传发生了，那么目前关于遗传程序在指导和决定生殖结果中的作用的理论和概念将不得不重新评估。新的理论必须结合源自社会学习模式的外生或文化机制。鉴于人类社会对文化传播表现出类似的依赖，这些研究的结果将为复杂行为的进化提供一个新的、更符合生态的模型。

Abstract (IBN 9423593) West, Meredith Experimental evidence has shown that many animal species show natal populational preferences with respect to reproductive patterns. In the present research, an avian model of cultural evolution is used to explore how social learning may be implicated in such reproductive patterns. Different populations of subjects are exposed for extensive periods to distinctive social populations prior to their breeding seasons. The reproductive preferences are then tested. Measurements are made of the proximate dynamics of the development of individuals' preferences. In addition, the behaviors by which individuals communicate reproductive preferences, in particular, the use of vocalizations and responses to vocalizations, are measured. Preliminary results confirm that social learning exerts direct effects on the transmission of reproductive preferences. The proposed studies explore in more depth the nature of the learning mechanisms and test whether learned preferences can be passed on to subsequent generations of individuals. If such cultural, transgenerational transmission occurs, current theories and concepts of the role of genetic programs in guiding and determining reproductive outcomes will have to re-evaluated. New theories will have to incorporate the exogenetic or cultural mechanisms deriving from models of social learning. In that human societies show analogous dependence on cultural transmission, the results of these studies will provide a new and more ecologically appropriate model of the evolution of complex behavior.