Animal innovation defined and operationalized.
Behav Brain Sci
; 30(4): 393-407; discussion 407-32, 2007 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18081967
ABSTRACT
Innovation is a key component of most definitions of culture and intelligence. Additionally, innovations may affect a species' ecology and evolution. Nonetheless, conceptual and empirical work on innovation has only recently begun. In particular, largely because the existing operational definition (first occurrence in a population) requires long-term studies of populations, there has been no systematic study of innovation in wild animals. To facilitate such study, we have produced a new definition of innovation Innovation is the process that generates in an individual a novel learned behavior that is not simply a consequence of social learning or environmental induction. Using this definition, we propose a new operational approach for distinguishing innovations in the field. The operational criteria employ information from the following sources (1) the behavior's geographic and local prevalence and individual frequency; (2) properties of the behavior, such as the social role of the behavior, the context in which the behavior is exhibited, and its similarity to other behaviors; (3) changes in the occurrence of the behavior over time; and (4) knowledge of spontaneous or experimentally induced behavior in captivity. These criteria do not require long-term studies at a single site, but information from multiple populations of a species will generally be needed. These criteria are systematized into a dichotomous key that can be used to assess whether a behavior observed in the field is likely to be an innovation.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Meio Social
/
Comportamento Animal
/
Cultura
/
Difusão de Inovações
/
Aprendizagem
Tipo de estudo:
Risk_factors_studies
/
Sysrev_observational_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2007
Tipo de documento:
Article