Language and cultural evolution

Interindividual vocal tract diversity influences the phonetic diversification of spoken languages

The paper shows that vocal tract variation among individuals leads to consistent phonetic differences, suggesting a neutral-like evolutionary process in language sound development.

Experimental Emergence of Conventions in Human Dyads

This study examines how human dyads form and maintain conventions in a color-matching game under different informational conditions, finding that more information delays convention formation but does not reduce their stability.

Representational capacity shapes both the "whether" and "how" of social learning

This paper uses simulations to show that social learning benefits are strongest for populations with moderate information-processing capacity, and that learning strategies shift from success bias to conformism as capacity increases.

Applying invasion criterion to cultural evolution

This paper applies ecological invasion criteria to predict cultural trait coexistence under different social learning biases and finds it works for most but not similarity-based learning.

An inverse correlation between linguistic and genetic diversity

The paper shows that genetic diversity is inversely correlated with linguistic diversity, with isolation promoting linguistic diversification and contact promoting homogenization.

Ancient regulatory evolution shapes individual language abilities in present-day humans

Polygenic score variants in HAQERs (Human Ancestor Quickly Evolved Regions, <0.1% of the genome) predict spoken language but not nonverbal IQ; language associations replicate in SPARK, ABCD and UK Biobank.

How does stochasticity in learning impact the accumulation of knowledge and the evolution of learning?

This study uses a mathematical model to show that stochasticity in learning increases cumulative knowledge by promoting variability, which enhances selection for knowledge acquisition and investment in learning.

STbayes: An R package for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission

The paper introduces an R package called STbayes for Bayesian analysis of social transmission using network-based diffusion models, demonstrating its ability to distinguish individual and social learning contributions.

Disentangling complex language contact and admixture in the broad Gansu-Qinghai region

The paper analyzes language contact and admixture in the Gansu-Qinghai region using a hybrid dataset and a new statistical method to identify linguistic influences from Sinitic, Tibetan, Mongolic, and Turkic languages.

Global patterns of genetic admixture reveal effects of language contact

The paper uses genetic admixture to estimate language contact effects globally, finding shared features between admixed populations and language pairs in the same area.

A neural network model for the evolution of reconstructive social learning

This study develops a neural network model to explore how reconstructive social learning evolves, showing that environmental stability and learning type influence the emergence of individual and social learning strategies.

The coevolution of learning schedules and teaching enhances cumulative knowledge and drives a teacher-innovator syndrome

This study shows that coevolving learning schedules and teaching enhance cumulative knowledge and create a teacher-innovator syndrome across generations.

The technical-reasoning network is recruited when people observe others make or teach how to make tools: An fMRI study

This study uses fMRI to show that the technical-reasoning network is activated when observing others make or teach tools, highlighting its role in social learning of technical content.

Inferring linguistic transmission between generations at the scale of individuals

The paper develops a method to infer historical linguistic transmission using within-population linguistic diversity and demographic models.

Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability

This paper reconciles behavioral genetics and cultural evolution using a dual inheritance framework to show how cultural dynamics affect genetic heritability estimates and trait causality.

Paleo-oscillomics: inferring aspects of Neanderthal language abilities from gene regulation of neural oscillations

The paper infers Neanderthal language-related neural oscillation properties by analyzing methylation differences in genes associated with language oscillogenome.

SRGAP2 And The Gradual Evolution Of The Modern Human Language Faculty

The paper uses archaic human genome data to argue that SRGAP2 gene duplication contributed to vocal learning in extinct hominins before anatomically modern humans emerged.