Language Evolution and Computation Bibliography

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Mark Nielsen
2015
Trends in cognitive sciences 19 11:688-699, 2015
Imitation and innovation work in tandem to support cultural learning in children and facilitate our capacity for cumulative culture. Here we propose an integrated theoretical account of how the unique demands of acquiring instrumental skills and cultural conventions provide ...MORE ⇓
Imitation and innovation work in tandem to support cultural learning in children and facilitate our capacity for cumulative culture. Here we propose an integrated theoretical account of how the unique demands of acquiring instrumental skills and cultural conventions provide insight into when children imitate, when they innovate, and to what degree. For instrumental learning, with an increase in experience, high fidelity imitation decreases and innovation increases. By contrast, for conventional learning, imitative fidelity stays high, regardless of experience, and innovation stays low. We synthesize cutting edge research on the development of imitative flexibility and innovation to provide insight into the social learning mechanisms underpinning the uniquely human mind.
2012
Journal of Comparative Psychology 126(2):170, 2012
Abstract 1. There is much controversy over what is needed for culture to flourish and what has led human culture to be different from “cultural” characteristics of other animals. Here I argue that the emergence of childhood as a step in the life cycle was critical to the ...