Elena Miu

Childhood exploration drives population-level innovation in cultural evolution

This study uses agent-based models to show that childhood exploration enhances cultural adaptation and long childhood evolution by enabling broader learning before exploitation.

The refinement paradox and cumulative cultural evolution: collective improvement in knowledge favors conformity, blind copying and hyper-credulity

The paper uses a computer tournament to show that refining knowledge can be advantageous initially but leads to conformity and blind copying in complex cultures.