The Pedagogue, the Engineer, and the Friend : From Whom Do We Learn?

Humans can follow different social learning strategies, sometimes oriented toward the models' characteristics (i.e., who-strategies). The goal of the present study was to explore which who-strategy is preferentially followed in the technological context based on the models' psychological characteristics. We identified three potential who-strategies: Copy the pedagogue (a model with high theory-of-mind skills), copy the engineer (a model with high technical-reasoning skills), and copy the friend (a model with high level of prosocialness). We developed a closed-group micro-society paradigm in which participants had to build the highest possible towers. Participants began with an individual building phase. Then, they were gathered to discuss the best solutions to increase tower height. After this discussion phase, they had to make a new building attempt, followed by another discussion phase, and so forth for a total of six building phases and five discussion rounds. This methodology allowed us to create an attraction score for each participant (the more an individual was copied in a group, the greater the attraction score). We also assessed participants' theory-of-mind skills, technical-reasoning skills, and prosocialness to predict participants' attraction scores based on these measures. Results show that we learn from engineers (high technical-reasoning skills) because they are the most successful. Their attraction power is not immediate, but after they have been identified as attractors, their technique is copied irrespective of their pedagogy (theory-of-mind skills) or friendliness (prosocialness). These findings open avenues for the study of the cognitive bases of human technological culture.

The castaway island: Distinct roles of theory of mind and technical reasoning in cumulative technological culture.

Cumulative technological culture is an intriguing phenomenon whose cognitive bases remain a matter of debate. For the influential shared-intentionality theory, this phenomenon originates in theory-of-mind skills. Evidence challenges it, stressing the role of learners' technical-reasoning skills. This discrepancy might be explained by a more specific role of theory-of-mind skills, notably in situations where the teacher communicates with the learner without visual access to what the latter is doing. We tested this hypothesis using a microsociety paradigm where participants (n = 200) had to build the highest possible tower in 2 conditions: Monitoring (communication with visual access) and Blind (communication without visual access). We also assessed participants' theory-of-mind and technical-reasoning skills. Results indicated that learners' technical-reasoning skills predicted cumulative performance in both conditions, whereas teachers' theory-of-mind skills were involved only in the Blind condition. These findings confirm the distinct but complementary roles of theory-of-mind and technical-reasoning skills in cumulative technological culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Roles of Technical Reasoning, Theory of Mind, Creativity, and Fluid Cognition in Cumulative Technological Culture.

Cumulative technological culture can be defined as the progressive diversification, complexification, and enhancement of technological traits through generations. An outstanding issue is to specify the cognitive bases of this phenomenon. Based on the literature, we identified four potential cognitive factors: namely, theory-of-mind, technical-reasoning, creativity, and fluid-cognitive skills. The goal of the present study was to test which of these factors-or a combination thereof-best predicted the cumulative performance in two experimental, micro-society conditions (Communication and Observation conditions; n = 100 each) differing in the nature of the interaction (verbal, visual) allowed between participants. The task was to build the highest possible tower. Participants were also assessed on the four aforementioned cognitive factors in order to predict cumulative performance (tower height) and attractiveness. Our findings indicate that technical-reasoning skills are the best predictor of cumulative performance (tower height), even if their role may be restricted to the specific technological domain. Theory-of-mind skills may have a facilitator role, particularly in the Communication condition. Creativity can also help in the generation of novel ideas, but it is not sufficient to support innovation. Finally, fluid cognition is not involved in cumulative technological culture. Taken together, these findings suggest that domain-specific knowledge (i.e., technical-reasoning skills) remains critical for explaining cumulative technological culture.

Physical intelligence does matter to cumulative technological culture.

Tool-based culture is not unique to humans, but cumulative technological culture is. The social intelligence hypothesis suggests that this phenomenon is fundamentally based on uniquely human sociocognitive skills (e.g., shared intentionality). An alternative hypothesis is that cumulative technological culture also crucially depends on physical intelligence, which may reflect fluid and crystallized aspects of intelligence and enables people to understand and improve the tools made by predecessors. By using a tool-making-based microsociety paradigm, we demonstrate that physical intelligence is a stronger predictor of cumulative technological performance than social intelligence. Moreover, learners' physical intelligence is critical not only in observational learning but also when learners interact verbally with teachers. Finally, we show that cumulative performance is only slightly influenced by teachers' physical and social intelligence. In sum, human technological culture needs "great engineers" to evolve regardless of the proportion of "great pedagogues." Social intelligence might play a more limited role than commonly assumed, perhaps in tool-use/making situations in which teachers and learners have to share symbolic representations. (PsycINFO Database Record

Partial synchronization on a network with different classes of oscillators.

Complete and partial synchronization have been largely studied on networks of identical coupled oscillators. However, we study a network in which not all oscillators when uncoupled show the same dynamics and nonetheless the network shows partial synchronization. Our system is composed by four Rössler oscillators diffusively coupled in a ring. Oscillators 1 and 3 are identical, as 2 and 4 are also. In short, the network is said to be composed of different classes of oscillators (in our example, two classes with two oscillators each). Primary synchronization is defined as the case when all oscillators on the same class are identically synchronized, for all classes. Secondary synchronization is related to the other possible cases of partial synchronization. Both are achieved for the system we have chosen, shown by means of direct integration and transverse Lyapunov exponent computation. Furthermore, evidence of riddled basins of attraction is presented.