United Kingdom

**Abstract:**

Migration has played a pivotal role in shaping both cultural and genetic diversity throughout human history. Results from population genetics show that even low rates of migration between populations lead to the homogenization of their genetic compositions. On the cultural side, we know that conformity helps maintain differences between groups. However, equivalent insights into the effect of migration on cultural composition remain limited. To address this gap, I have developed a simulation model that explores the joint evolution of genetic and cultural traits, investigating how varying strengths of conformity and migration rates influence differentiation both within and between populations

**Speaker&#39;s social media:**

Twitter: @camilla_cenni

Cultural Evolution Society Conference 2024

RECORDING - Cultural drivers of stone-tool use in Balinese long-tailed macaques

non-human primates

behavioral traditions

object play

tool use

social learning

Welcome to the Cultural Evolution Society (CES) Conference 2024, which was a hybrid conference held at Durham University (UK). The conference was hosted in Durham by the Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre (DCERC) with administrative assistance from the CES Transformation Fund team.

**For more information about the CES Conference, please visit the [CES Website Home Page](https://ces2024.webspace.durham.ac.uk/).**

#### Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre (DCERC) 
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
**Interdisciplinary study of cultural change and diversity**

We are a highly interdisciplinary group of researchers using evolutionary models to study cultural change and diversity.  We apply cultural evolutionary methods to a wide variety of topics including cognition, innovation, social learning, technology, art, music, narrative, religion, sociality, language and communication. We have a growing interest in applying cultural evolutionary theory to current societal challenges such as understanding the spread of prosocial health behaviours and health conspiracies.<br>
**[Discover More](https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/cultural-evolution/)**

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The field of cultural evolution is growing in size and scope; its theories, methods and applications - both academic and applied - are getting ever more robust. Do join us in what promises to be an exciting exchange of ideas and a celebration of our field.

**Abstract:**

Migration has played a pivotal role in shaping both cultural and genetic diversity throughout human history. Results from population genetics show that even low rates of migration between populations lead to the homogenization of their genetic compositions. On the cultural side, we know that conformity helps maintain differences between groups. However, equivalent insights into the effect of migration on cultural composition remain limited. To address this gap, I have developed a simulation model that explores the joint evolution of genetic and cultural traits, investigating how varying strengths of conformity and migration rates influence differentiation both within and between populations

**Speaker's social media:**

Twitter: @camilla_cenni

technical paper

**Abstract:**

Words within a language share more sounds than would be expected by chance, and this similarity cannot be explained by phonological rules alone (Dautriche et al. 2017; Mahowald et al. 2018). This is somewhat puzzling, since language comprehension is easier when words are more distinct. However, language production is easier when words are more alike. We use techniques from language evolution research to test the hypothesis that, in this instance, pressures from production outweigh those from comprehension. We model language transmission in an agent-based exemplar model, where the output of one generation becomes the input to the next (Kirby et al. 2015; Smith et al. 2003). We find that words become more alike under two assumptions about the production process: first, that errors tend to replace lower frequency sounds with higher frequency ones, and second, that retrieval tends to favour words that resemble others the agent knows. As these effects accumulate over generations – modulated by inferences about what the listener is likely to understand – initially random lexicons start to exhibit natural-language-like properties. Overall, this work sheds light on how languages balance competing pressures through a process of cultural evolution.

**Speaker's social media:**

Twitter: @mandolinguist

RECORDING - Language production biases increase word similarity through cultural transmission

**Abstract:**

The geographical distribution of languages evolves driven by human contact, demic diffusion, invasion, etc. The spatial pattern of languages in South America has undergone a substantial change since the European colonization, where the Indo-European (IE) languages extensively expanded their area over the continent, removing many indigenous languages. Our study aims to statistically infer the evolutionary history of the geographical distribution of the IE and indigenous languages after the Age of Discovery, based on known entry locations of IE languages and the modern geographical distribution. We extend the Bayesian framework which interpolates the history of a diffusion process in a spatial network based on incomplete data (Takahashi et al. 2023). We define a spatial network representing the topography of South America. The transition (or diffusion) rates of languages between neighbors are defined considering the hiking distance, which is inferred from elevation data of the terrain. The method reveals the spread of IE languages in South America, indicating the probability of each location being occupied by an IE language at any given point in time. We offer a principled framework for tracing diffusion processes in cultural evolution. The framework incorporates geographical factors, particularly elevation, and examines their influence on diffusion.

**Speaker's social media:**



LIVE - Reconstructing the evolutionary history of the geographical distribution of Indo-European languages in South America

**Abstract:**

Kin-based social institutions (KBSI) shape human social networks, norms of property ownership, and marriage patterns, among other things, and have played an important role in the evolution of human psychology and social systems. Among the Karo of Indonesia, the rate of preferential matrilateral cross-cousin (impal) marriage, one of the most important KBSIs for that society, decreased drastically from at least the first half of the 20th century to recent times. We used a sample of 176 marriages from 62 villages and epidemiological methods (case-control study design and structural equation modeling) to measure the effect of various risk factors for impal marriage. With 88 cases (individuals ever married to their impal) and 88 controls (those never married to impal) matched by sex and age, we built models to assess risk factors in five groupings related to demography, religion, alliance, co-socialization, and modernization. There were significant factors with direct or indirect effects on the risk of impal marriage in four of the five groupings. Our results have implications for understanding the role of various factors on the decline of impal marriage among the Karo, but also for understanding the dynamics of social change and cultural evolution more generally.

**Speaker's social media:**

Twitter: @gkushnick

RECORDING - Explaining the decline of preferential matrilateral cross-cousin (impal) marriage among the Karo of Indonesia: An epidemiological approach to cultural evolution

Introductions

Through long-term research with bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) in Fazenda Boa Vista, Brazil, we have deepened our understanding of tool use by non-human primates. Nut cracking with tools is a skill developed through socially mediated individual learning, resulting from the availability of fruits and hard stones. Learning this skill affects the development of perception, attention, and memory. Nut-cracking on anvil sites also increases direct competition among group members, steepening the female dominance hierarchy. Finally, the use of tools to obtain nut kernels substantially increases the diet quality of these monkeys. While the tradition  of nut cracking with stone tools impacts the lives of bearded capuchin monkeys in many ways, recent studies indicate that habitat anthropization is threatening this tradition. Thus, we must act to protect capuchin monkeys.

A tough nut to crack: what research with wild capuchin monkeys reveals about the tradition of tool use

The modern field of cultural evolution emerged in the 1970s, in the aftermath of the ‘race and IQ’ and ‘human sociobiology’ debates, as a direct counter to extreme hereditarian positions. Yet, despite genetic data refuting any suggestion of racial substructure to human populations, naive interpretations of race that advertently or inadvertently perpetuate racist ideas remain prevalent across the biological sciences, including concerning ancestry, health, sport, and intelligence. A cultural evolution perspective can help identify unwarranted reductionist and determinist claims while providing a more inclusive multidisciplinary framework with which to interpret human variation. Natural and social scientists have an important role to play in disseminating the multifaceted explanation for racial disparities to the wider public.

Genes, culture, and scientific racism

LIVE - Cultural drivers of stone-tool use in Balinese long-tailed macaques

LIVE - Language production biases increase word similarity through cultural transmission

LIVE - Explaining the decline of preferential matrilateral cross-cousin (impal) marriage among the Karo of Indonesia: An epidemiological approach to cultural evolution

**Abstract:**

Mental state focus is not restricted to overt inferences about other’s thoughts and beliefs; it can also emerge subtly in how mental state language is used to talk about others. In Western societies, this ‘Mind-mindedness’ correlates with social cognitive abilities to infer what others think and know (mentalizing). However, open discussion of others’ mental states is normatively discouraged in “Opacity of Mind” cultures, leading to questions about whether mentalizing operates differently with these normative limitations on mind-minded language. This study examines patterns of mental state word use as an indication of ‘mind-mindedness’ across three cultural groups with distinct norms around mental state inference: Indigenous iTaukei Fijians (N=121) who hold ‘Opacity of Mind’ norms; New Zealanders of European Descent (N=355) who hold ‘mind-focused’ norms; and Pacific Islanders living in NZ (N=616) who have mixed exposure to both norm systems. Results show distinct preferences for mind-minded language across various social communication domains that align with the cultural group’s social norms around mental state discussion. These patterns further correspond to societal patterns of responses to mentalizing tasks. Implications for cultures’ impact on cognition and co-evolution of cognition and culture through language are discussed.

**Speaker's social media:**

Twitter: @GuessRita

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RECORDING - Language production biases increase word similarity through cultural transmission

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LIVE - Cultural drivers of stone-tool use in Balinese long-tailed macaques

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