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Markov AV, Markov MA. Runaway brain-culture coevolution as a reason for larger brains: Exploring the "cultural drive" hypothesis by computer modeling. Ecol Evol. 2020;10(12):6059-6077doi: 10.1002/ece3.6350.
Markov, A. V., & Markov, M. A. (2020). Runaway brain-culture coevolution as a reason for larger brains: Exploring the "cultural drive" hypothesis by computer modeling. Ecology and evolution, 10(12), 6059-6077. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6350
Markov, Alexander V, and Markov, Mikhail A. "Runaway brain-culture coevolution as a reason for larger brains: Exploring the "cultural drive" hypothesis by computer modeling." Ecology and evolution vol. 10,12 (2020): 6059-6077. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6350
Markov AV, Markov MA. Runaway brain-culture coevolution as a reason for larger brains: Exploring the "cultural drive" hypothesis by computer modeling. Ecol Evol. 2020 May 20;10(12):6059-6077. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6350. eCollection 2020 Jun. PMID: 32607213; PMCID: PMC7319167.
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Ecol Evol. 2020 May 20;10(12):6059-6077. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6350. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Runaway brain-culture coevolution as a reason for larger brains: Exploring the "cultural drive" hypothesis by computer modeling.

Ecology and evolution

Alexander V Markov, Mikhail A Markov

Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Biology Moscow State University Moscow Russia.
  2. Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia.

PMID: 32607213 PMCID: PMC7319167 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6350

Abstract

Scale and tempo of brain expansion in the course of human evolution implies that this process was driven by a positive feedback. The "cultural drive" hypothesis suggests a possible mechanism for the runaway brain-culture coevolution wherein high-fidelity social learning results in accumulation of cultural traditions which, in turn, promote selection for still more efficient social learning. Here we explore this evolutionary mechanism by means of computer modeling. Simulations confirm its plausibility in a social species in a socio-ecological situation that makes the sporadic invention of new beneficial and cognitively demanding behaviors possible. The chances for the runaway brain-culture coevolution increase when some of the culturally transmitted behaviors are individually beneficial while the others are group-beneficial. In this case, "cultural drive" is possible under varying levels of between-group competition and migration. Modeling implies that brain expansion can receive additional boost if the evolving mechanisms of social learning are costly in terms of brain expansion (e.g., rely on complex neuronal circuits) and tolerant to the complexity of information transferred, that is, make it possible to transfer complex skills and concepts easily. Human language presumably fits this description. Modeling also confirms that the runaway brain-culture coevolution can be accelerated by additional positive feedback loops via population growth and life span extension, and that between-group competition and cultural group selection can facilitate the propagation of group-beneficial behaviors and remove maladaptive cultural traditions from the population's culture, which individual selection is unable to do.

© 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords: brain expansion; cultural drive; human evolution; simulation; social learning

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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