Testing differential use of payoff-biased social learning strategies in children and chimpanzees (2017)
Journal Article
Vale, G., Flynn, E. G., Kendal Jeremy, R., Rawlings, B., Hopper Lydia, M., Schapiro Steven, J., …Kendal Rachel, L. (2017). Testing differential use of payoff-biased social learning strategies in children and chimpanzees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1868), Article 20171751. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1751

Various non-human animal species have been shown to exhibit behavioural traditions. Importantly, this research has been guided by what we know of human culture, and the question of whether animal cultures may be homologous or analogous to our own cul... Read More about Testing differential use of payoff-biased social learning strategies in children and chimpanzees.

Follow (or don’t follow) the crowd: Young children’s conformity is influenced by norm domain and age (2017)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., Turner, C., & Giraldeau, L. (2018). Follow (or don’t follow) the crowd: Young children’s conformity is influenced by norm domain and age. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 167, 222-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.10.014

This study investigated whether young children’s conformity to a consensus varies across the normative domain and age. A total of 168 3- and 5-year-olds participated. Each child was presented with a puzzle box that had two transparent compartments. I... Read More about Follow (or don’t follow) the crowd: Young children’s conformity is influenced by norm domain and age.

Cognitive Evolution and the Transmission of Popular Narratives: A Literature Review and Application to Urban Legends (2017)
Journal Article
Stubbersfield, J., Flynn, E., & Tehrani, J. (2017). Cognitive Evolution and the Transmission of Popular Narratives: A Literature Review and Application to Urban Legends. Evolutionary studies in imaginative culture, 1(1), 121-136. https://doi.org/10.26613/esic.1.1.20

Recent research into cultural transmission suggests that humans are disposed to learn, remember, and transmit certain types of information more easily than others, and that any information that is passed between people will be subjected to cognitive... Read More about Cognitive Evolution and the Transmission of Popular Narratives: A Literature Review and Application to Urban Legends.

Chicken tumours and fishy revenge: Evidence for emotional content bias in the cumulative recall of urban legends (2017)
Journal Article
Stubbersfield, J., Tehrani, J., & Flynn, E. (2017). Chicken tumours and fishy revenge: Evidence for emotional content bias in the cumulative recall of urban legends. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 17(1-2), 12-26. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12342189

This study used urban legends to examine the effects of a cognitive bias for content which evokes higher levels of emotion on cumulative recall. As with previous research into content biases, a linear transmission chain design was used. One-hundred a... Read More about Chicken tumours and fishy revenge: Evidence for emotional content bias in the cumulative recall of urban legends.

How does the reliability of a model affect children's choice to learn socially or individually? (2016)
Journal Article
Turner, C., Giraldeau, L., & Flynn, E. (2017). How does the reliability of a model affect children's choice to learn socially or individually?. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(3), 341-349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.11.005

The effect of model reliability on children’s choices to learn socially versus individually is pertinent to theories addressing cultural evolution and theories of selective trust. Here the effect of a reliable versus unreliable model on children’s pr... Read More about How does the reliability of a model affect children's choice to learn socially or individually?.

To copy or to innovate? The role of personality and social networks on children's learning strategies (2016)
Journal Article
Rawlings, B., Flynn, E., & Kendal, R. (2017). To copy or to innovate? The role of personality and social networks on children's learning strategies. Child Development Perspectives, 11(1), 39-44. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12206

In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to learn. They can develop solutions through learning strategies involving social learning or asocial endeavors. While evidence is emerging that children may... Read More about To copy or to innovate? The role of personality and social networks on children's learning strategies.

Personal space regulation in Williams syndrome: The effect of familiarity (2016)
Journal Article
Lough, E., Flynn, E., & Riby, D. (2016). Personal space regulation in Williams syndrome: The effect of familiarity. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(10), 3207-3215. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2864-8

Personal space refers to a protective barrier that we strive to maintain around our body. We examined personal space regulation in young people with Williams syndrome (WS) and their typically developing, chronological age-matched peers using a parent... Read More about Personal space regulation in Williams syndrome: The effect of familiarity.

Eureka!: What is innovation, how does it develop, and who does it? (2016)
Journal Article
Carr, K., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2016). Eureka!: What is innovation, how does it develop, and who does it?. Child Development, 87(5), 1505-1519. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12549

Innovation is not only central to changes in traditional practice but arguably responsible for humanity's remarkable success at colonizing the earth and diversifying the products, technologies, and systems within it. Surprisingly little is known of h... Read More about Eureka!: What is innovation, how does it develop, and who does it?.

Selectivity in social and asocial learning: investigating the prevalence, effect and development of young children's learning preferences (2016)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., Turner, C., & Giraldeau, L. (2016). Selectivity in social and asocial learning: investigating the prevalence, effect and development of young children's learning preferences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1690), Article 20150189. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0189

Culture evolution requires both modification and faithful replication of behaviour, thus it is essential to understand how individuals choose between social and asocial learning. In a quasi-experimental design, 3- and 5-year-olds (176), and adults (5... Read More about Selectivity in social and asocial learning: investigating the prevalence, effect and development of young children's learning preferences.

Animal and human innovation: novel problems and novel solutions (2016)
Journal Article
Reader, S., Morand-Ferron, J., & Flynn, E. (2016). Animal and human innovation: novel problems and novel solutions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1690), Article 20150182. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0182

This theme issue explores how and why behavioural innovation occurs, and the consequences of innovation for individuals, groups and populations. A vast literature on human innovation exists, from the development of problem-solving in children, to the... Read More about Animal and human innovation: novel problems and novel solutions.

Robust retention and transfer of tool construction techniques in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) (2016)
Journal Article
Vale, G., Flynn, E., Pender, L., Price, E., Whiten, A., Lambeth, P., …Kendal, R. (2016). Robust retention and transfer of tool construction techniques in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 130(1), 24-35. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040000

Long-term memory can be critical to a species’ survival in environments with seasonal and even longer-term cycles of resource availability. The present, longitudinal study investigated whether complex tool behaviors used to gain an out-of-reach rewar... Read More about Robust retention and transfer of tool construction techniques in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation? (2015)
Journal Article
Wood, L., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2015). Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation?. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 139, 190-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.06.003

The current study investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children’s task solution choice was influenced by the past proficiency of familiar peer models and the children’s personal prior task experience. Peer past proficiency was established through be... Read More about Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation?.

Imitate or Innovate? Children’s Innovation is Influenced by the Efficacy of Observed Behaviour (2015)
Journal Article
Carr, K., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2015). Imitate or Innovate? Children’s Innovation is Influenced by the Efficacy of Observed Behaviour. Cognition, 142, 322-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.005

This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable information, in the form of a visibly ineffective demonstrated solution, and deviate to produce novel solutions (‘innovations’). Children aged 4–9 years were pres... Read More about Imitate or Innovate? Children’s Innovation is Influenced by the Efficacy of Observed Behaviour.

Serial killers, spiders and cybersex : social and survival information bias in the transmission of urban legends (2014)
Journal Article
Stubbersfield, J., Tehrani, J., & Flynn, E. (2015). Serial killers, spiders and cybersex : social and survival information bias in the transmission of urban legends. British Journal of Psychology, 106(2), 288-307. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12073

This study uses urban legends to examine the effects of the social information bias and survival information bias on cultural transmission across three phases of transmission: the choose-to-receive phase, the encode-and-retrieve phase, and the choose... Read More about Serial killers, spiders and cybersex : social and survival information bias in the transmission of urban legends.

Public information use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens) (2014)
Journal Article
Vale, G., Flynn, E., Lambeth, S., Schapiro, S., & Kendal, R. (2014). Public information use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 128(2), 215-223. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034420

The discernment of resource quality is pertinent to many daily decisions faced by animals. Public information is a critical information source that promotes quality assessments, attained by monitoring others’ performance. Here we provide the first ev... Read More about Public information use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens).

Mapping real-world to online vulnerability in young people with developmental disorders: Illustrations from autism and Williams syndrome (2014)
Journal Article
Lough, E., Flynn, E., & Riby, D. (2014). Mapping real-world to online vulnerability in young people with developmental disorders: Illustrations from autism and Williams syndrome. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-014-0029-2

The Internet poses a new kind of threat, especially for those individuals already vulnerable in society. The current paper draws on the social phenotypes associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS) to propose that indivi... Read More about Mapping real-world to online vulnerability in young people with developmental disorders: Illustrations from autism and Williams syndrome.

Whom do children copy? Model-based biases in learning (2013)
Journal Article
Wood, L., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2013). Whom do children copy? Model-based biases in learning. Developmental Review, 33(4), 341-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2013.08.002

This review investigates the presence of young children’s model-based cultural transmission biases in social learning, arguing that such biases are adaptive and flexible. Section 1 offers five propositions regarding the presence and direction of mode... Read More about Whom do children copy? Model-based biases in learning.

Dissecting children's observational learning of complex actions through selective video displays (2013)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., & Whiten, A. (2013). Dissecting children's observational learning of complex actions through selective video displays. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 116(2), 247-263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2013.06.001

Children can learn how to use complex objects by watching others, yet the relative importance of different elements they may observe, such as the interactions of the individual parts of the apparatus, a model’s movements, and desirable outcomes, rema... Read More about Dissecting children's observational learning of complex actions through selective video displays.

Human cumulative culture: a comparative perspective (2013)
Journal Article
Dean, L., Vale, G., Laland, K., Flynn, E., & Kendal, R. (2014). Human cumulative culture: a comparative perspective. Biological Reviews, 89(2), 284-301. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12053

Many animals exhibit social learning and behavioural traditions, but human culture exhibits unparalleled complexity and diversity, and is unambiguously cumulative in character. These similarities and differences have spawned a debate over whether ani... Read More about Human cumulative culture: a comparative perspective.

Copy you or copy me? The effect of prior personally-acquired, and alternative method, information on imitation (2013)
Journal Article
Wood, L., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2013). Copy you or copy me? The effect of prior personally-acquired, and alternative method, information on imitation. Cognition, 127(2), 203-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2013.01.002

The current study investigated children’s solution choice and imitation of causally-irrelevant actions by using a controlled design to mirror naturalistic learning contexts in which children receive social information for tasks about which they have... Read More about Copy you or copy me? The effect of prior personally-acquired, and alternative method, information on imitation.