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UID:4076-1212364800-1212364800@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Gyorgy Gergely - Beyond Imitative Learning: The case for Natural Pedagogy Evolutionary Mechanisms of Cultural Knowledge Transmission in Humans
DESCRIPTION:Gyorgy Gergely: Central European University\, Budapest\, Stanford Center\nfor Advanced Studies in Behavioral SciencesHuman minds construct cultural products that form part of the environmental niche to which new generations  of human minds must adapt. A remarkable feature of cultural transmission is that infants fast-learn a vast amount of cultural skills very early on even when they cannot yet fully grasp their relevant causal\, functional\, intentional\, or adaptive properties. This represents an apparent paradox: how can such cognitively ‘opaque’ cultural forms be successfully transmitted and maintained across generations? Are there specialized cognitive mechanisms evolved to make efficient intergenerational transfer of such cultural knowledge possible? \nThe dominant view holds that it is the capacity for imitative learning that serves the evolutionary function of\ncultural transmission in humans. I’ll argue\, however\, that presently proposed models of imitative learning face\nthe problem of ‘relevance-blindness’  as they lack appropriate  selection mechanisms to differentiate relevant\n(to be re-enacted and learned) from non-relevant\, incidental to be disregarded) aspects of observed\nbehaviors. ‘Relevance-blind’ imitative copying would be a wasteful and inefficient transmission mechanism\nlikely to lead to distorted reproduction and eventual extinction of useful cultural innovations over the\ngenerations.  \nI’ll suggest that the emergence of cognitively opaque cultural skills during hominin evolution and the\nconsequent need for their efficient intergenerational transmission created evolutionary pressure leading to the\nselection of a new type of  ‘relevance-guided’ social-communicative learning mechanism of mutual design:\nthe system of ‘Natural Pedagogy’ (NP) (Gergely & Csibra\, 2006). On the naïve “teacher’s” side\, NP involves an\ninstinctual inclination to ostensively manifest – and guide the ignorant “learner’s” inferences to identify –\nrelevant cultural information to be fast-learned. On the naïve “learner’s” side\, NP involves evolved sensitivity\nto ‘ostensive’ (e.g.\, eye-contact\, contingent reactivity\, or infant-directed speech) and referential (e.g.\, gaze-shift\nor pointing) cues that  are interpreted to signal the other’s communicative intention to manifest new\, relevant\n(and generalizable) cultural knowledge about a referent (and its kind). Such cues trigger a receptive learning\nattitude to fast-learn ostensively manifested  contents even  when they  are cognitively opaque to the\nlearner. I’ll present evidence to support the NP hypothesis from our infancy studies testing the basic\nassumptions of the theory about the nature of early cultural learning in humans in a number of different\nknowledge domains.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/gyorgy-gergely-beyond-imitative-learning-the-case-for-natural-pedagogy-evolutionary-mechanisms-of-cultural-knowledge-transmission-in-humans/
CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation
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