Sequence representation and cultural systems are necessary for cumulative culture

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Abstract

Chater and Christiansen explain cultural complexity as emerging through local social tinkering. We argue that this account can be complemented by two minimal principles: sequence representation as a cognitive prerequisite for cumulative culture and cultural-systems dynamics as a formal account of how interacting traits stabilize, constrain, and reshape later tinkering. Together, they explain how simple mechanisms generate complex cultural organization.

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