21.2.2020 Data Science Seminar: Combining models and empirical data to investigate the evolution of cultural variation

by Dr Jeremy Kendal (Anthropology)

Friday 21 Feb 2020, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/London

OC218 (Odgen Centre)

Cultural evolutionary theory provides a framework to explain patterns of cultural variation that have been subject to some form of descent with modification.  Mechanisms by which new variants arise and are socially transmitted can affect evolutionary dynamics and so are an important focus of this field’s research.  To this end, I report two studies that apply models to empirical data using Approximate Bayesian Computation and model selection to infer mechanisms by which (i) cultural repertoires expand in non-human primate populations and (ii) social learning errors are a source of variation in human knot tying practices.