It is cultural transmission -- the ability to pass knowledge on from one individual to another even across generations -- that makes us unique among animals. True, we also learn by observing what happens in the world around us, for example, by associating events that frequently occur together (or in a rapid sequence). However, human "communication" may constitute such a powerful instrument that it overrides "statistics," as observed in a study just published in PLOS One and conducted by Hanna Marno, researcher at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste. Show
"Human beings learn from statistical associations between events and objects. If, for example, one event very frequently follows another, we'll learn to associate the first with the second and to use this association in our daily lives" explains Marno. "However, this is not the only way we learn. For humans, in fact, sharing information by communication is a vitally important factor." This means that whereas normally we will associate an object with an action after observing their co-occurrence for a certain number of times, when certain communicative "cues" intervene (eye contact or verbal reinforcement from another person), then learning could take place far more rapidly and without any need for repeated observations. "In our experiments, infants aged about 18 months watched an adult interact with a box that had two buttons and a heart-shaped lamp on it; when either of the two buttons was pressed the heart lit up" explains Marno. In the "baseline" condition only the efficiency of the action varied: in one case, the button on the right would light up the heart-shaped lamp two-thirds of the time (high efficiency) and the one on the left only the remaining one-third (low efficiency), whereas in the other case the situation was reversed. In the experimental condition, a "communication" variable was added: the demonstrators could remain neutral (as at baseline) or interact with the child through non-verbal (eye contact) and verbal cues (in so-called "motherese," the typical way adults talk to young children) to emphasise their action. Then, in a later phase, the children were left alone to interact with the box and the investigators recorded which button they pressed first. "The results demonstrate that in these experiments the 'communicative' signals are more important than the efficiency of the action" explains Marno. "Compared to children's tendency to choose the more efficient button in the neutral condition, in the experimental situation they tended to prefer the button with low efficiency if this had been highlighted by the adult's communicative signals." More in detail... Marno started her studies on the effect of communicative signals by testing adult subjects. In fact, communication seems to play a specific, powerful role for adults as well. "Information about an object may be contingent or general. For example, when learning about an object, we can learn its position, which is most of the cases transitory information related to a specific moment in time, or we can learn more general features like its shape and function, which are not bound to any specific time period." In her experiments with adults, Marno observed that while mere observation of objects can contribute to the acquisition of contingent and transitory information, when communicative signals are also present, there is a bias to acquire some permanent, more general information. "Our studies clearly demonstrate the huge importance of communication in human learning." Story Source: Materials provided by Sissa Medialab. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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In linguistics, cultural transmission is the process whereby a language is passed on from one generation to the next in a community. It is also known as cultural learning and socio/cultural transmission. Cultural transmission is generally regarded as one of the key characteristics distinguishing human language from animal communication. However, as Willem Zuidema points out, cultural transmission "is not unique to language or humans—we also observe it in music and bird song—but rare among primates and a key qualitative feature of language" ("Language in Nature" in The Language Phenomenon, 2013). Linguist Tao Gong has identified three primary forms of cultural transmission:
("Exploring the Roles of Major Forms of Cultural Transmission in Language Evolution" in The Evolution of Language, 2010). Examples and Observations "While we may inherit physical features such as brown eyes and dark hair from our parents, we do not inherit their language. We acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes... "The evidence that human beings do indeed have species-unique modes of cultural transmission is overwhelming. Most importantly, the cultural traditions and artifacts of human beings accumulate modification over time in a way that those of other animal species do not—so-called cumulative cultural evolution." (Michael Tomasello, The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Harvard University Press, 1999) "A basic dichotomy in
language evolution is between the biological evolution of the language capacity and the historical evolution of individual languages, mediated by cultural transmission (learning)." A Means of Cultural Transmission"One of the most important functions of language is its role in the construction of reality. Language is not simply a tool for communication; it is also a guide to what [Edward] Sapir terms social reality. Language has a semantic system, or a meaning potential which enables the transmission of cultural values (Halliday 1978: 109). Therefore, while the child is learning language, other significant learning is taking place through the medium of language. The child is simultaneously learning the meanings associated with the culture, realized linguistically by the lexico-grammatical system of the language (Halliday 1978: 23)." (Linda Thompson, "Learning Language: Learning Culture in Singapore." Language, Education, and Discourse: Functional Approaches, ed. by Joseph A. Foley. Continuum, 2004) The Language-Learning Disposition "Languages—Chinese, English, Maori, and so forth—differ because they have different histories, with a variety of factors such as population movements, social stratification, and the presence or absence of writing
affecting these histories in subtle ways. However, these mind-external, place-and-time specific factors interact in every generation with the language faculty found in every human. It is this interaction that determines the relative stability and the slow transformation of languages and puts limits on their variability...Generally, whereas day-to-day cultural changes in language use may introduce new idiosyncrasies and difficulties such as hard-to-pronounce
borrowed words, the language-learning disposition operating at the generational timescale pulls the mental representations of these inputs toward more regular and easily remembered forms... Social Symbol Grounding "Social
symbol grounding refers to the process of developing a shared lexicon of perceptually-grounded symbols in a population of cognitive agents...In
slow, evolutionary terms, it refers to the gradual emergence of language. Our ancestors started from a pre-linguistic, animal-like society with no explicit symbolic and communicative means. During evolution, this led to the collective development of shared languages used to talk about entities in the physical, internal and social world. In ontogenetic terms, social symbol grounding refers to the process of language acquisition and cultural transmission. In early age, children acquire the
language of the groups they belong to via imitation of their parents and peers. This leads to the gradual discovery and construction of linguistic knowledge (Tomasello 2003). During adulthood, this process continues through the general mechanisms of cultural transmission." How are culture transmitted from one generation to another?The intergenerational transmission of culture refers to the way values, knowledge, and practices that are prevalent in one generation are transferred to the next generation. Cultural transmission, thus, is seen as a process by which the reproduction of culture occurs in each successive generation (Corsaro, 1997).
What is the role of language in transmitting culture from one generation to another?Language plays significant roles in culture, where it can be used to transmit culture, it also shaped by the culture, and it gives a symbol to cultural identity. Language is used to Transmit Culture Culture is passed down from one generation to the next and shared from one community to another using language.
How is culture transmitted from one generation to another quizlet?Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next.
How is knowledge transferred from one generation to another?It is shared and passed down through the generations orally and through cultural practices and ritual. These sets of understandings, interpretations and meanings are attached to language, naming and classification systems, and resource use.
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How is culture transmitted from one generation to another a. through communication
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