NDLI: The learning of action sequences through social transmission

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Whalen, Andrew Cownden, Daniel Laland, Kevin
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	Previous empirical work on animal social learning has found that many species lack the ability to learn entire action sequences solely through reliance on social information. Conversely, acquiring action sequences through asocial learning can be difficult due to the large number of potential sequences arising from even a small number of base actions. In spite of this, several studies report that some primates use action sequences in the wild. We investigate how social information can be integrated with asocial learning to facilitate the learning of action sequences. We formalize this problem by examining how learners using temporal difference learning, a widely applicable model of reinforcement learning, can combine social cues with their own experiences to acquire action sequences. The learning problem is modeled as a Markov decision process. The learning of nettle processing by mountain gorillas serves as a focal example. Through simulations, we find that the social facilitation of component actions can combine with individual learning to facilitate the acquisition of action sequences. Our analysis illustrates that how even simple forms of social learning, combined with asocial learning, generate substantially faster learning of action sequences compared to asocial processes alone, and that the benefits of social information increase with the length of the action sequence and the number of base actions.
Starting Page	1093
Ending Page	1103
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF
ISSN	14359448
Journal	Animal Cognition
Volume Number	18
Issue Number	5
e-ISSN	14359456
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2015-05-26
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Social learning Sequence learning Temporal difference learning Markov decision process Chaining Behavioral Sciences Zoology Psychology Research
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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