Iterated learning and the evolution of language
Open accessAbstract
Iterated learning describes the process whereby an individual learns their behaviour by exposure to another individual's behaviour, who themselves learnt it in the same way. It can be seen as a key mechanism of cultural evolution. We review various methods for understanding how behaviour is shaped by the iterated learning process: computational agent-based simulations; mathematical modelling; and laboratory experiments in humans and non-human animals. We show how this framework has been used to explain the origins of structure in language, and argue that cultural evolution must be considered alongside biological evolution in explanations of language origins.
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Iterated interaction can be considered to generate Markov chains in the long-run, which gives a well-formed framework to analyze the asymptotic effects of local decisions.
“It is known that iterated interaction can be considered to generate Markov chains in the long-run, which gives us a well-formed framework to analyze the asymptotic effects of local decision [72, 74].”
From Evolution and impact of bias in human and machine learning algorithm interaction (2020) · cites this paper as [72]
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- Authors
- Kirby, S., Griffiths, T., & Smith, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Kirby, Simon
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-10
- Volume
- 28
- Pages
- 108-114
- ISSN
- 0959-4388 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2046104360
- Cited by
- 313
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 69 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 12 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 11.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- iterated learning, language evolution, cultural evolution, origin of language, agent-based modeling, mathematical modeling, laboratory experiments, non-human animals, evolution, language structure
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cultural Evolution, Biological Evolution, Humans, Language, Learning, Models, Theoretical
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