Detecting social learning using networks: a users guide

Abstract

Controversy over claims of cultures in nonhuman primates and other animals has led to a call for quantitative methods that are able to infer social learning from freely interacting groups of animals. Network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA) is such a method that infers social transmission of a behavioral trait when the pattern of acquisition follows the social network. As, relative to other animals, primates may be unusual in their heavy reliance on social learning, with learning frequently directed along pathways of association; in this study, we draw attention to the significance of this method for primatologists. We provide a "users guide" to NBDA methodology, discussing the choice of NBDA model and social network, and suggest model selection procedures. We also present the results of simulations that suggest that NBDA works well even when the assumptions of the underlying model are violated.