Field reports suggest that orangutans acquire local traditions by observing neighbouring conspecifics. However, there is little direct evidence of social learning to support this conclusion. The present study investigated whether orangutans would learn a novel foraging method through observation of a conspecific in a diffusion-chain paradigm testing for the spread of the behaviour. A foraging b...

Causal knowledge serves two functions: it allows us to predict future events on the basis of observations and to plan actions. Although associative learning theories traditionally differentiate between learning based on observations (classical conditioning) and learning based on the outcomes of actions (instrumental conditioning), they fail to express the common basis of these two modes of acce...

OBJECTIVES Clinical skills expertise can be advanced through accessible and cost-effective video-based observational practice activities. Previous findings suggest that the observation of performances of skills that include flaws can be beneficial to trainees. Observing the scope of variability within a skilled movement allows learners to develop strategies to manage the potential for and conse...

Conversation, Learning and Informational Cascades We offer a model to explain why groups of people sometimes converge upon poor decisions and are prone to fads, even though they can discuss the outcomes of their choices. Models of informational herding or cascades have examined how rational individuals learn by observing predecessors’ actions, and show that when individuals stop using their own...