Social learning: the importance of copying others.
A new study argues that social learning is adaptive because 'demonstrators' inadvertently filter information, so that copiers learn behaviours that have proved successful. There are remarkable parallels between these findings and data on how social insects share information about food locations.
Grüter
Christoph
C
Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 9SB, UK.
Leadbeater
Ellouise
E
Ratnieks
Francis L W
FL
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007858:Learning; D019370:Observation; D012919:Social Behavior; D012984:Software