A resource rational analysis of when (not) to trust your elders
Abstract
A major challenge in human social learning is deciding how to integrate "cultural" information inherited from previous generations with contemporary information available from our "peers". While cultural information may be based on more experience, it may also be outdated if the environment has changed. To understand this dilemma from a normative perspective, we developed a cognitive model of a highly simplified version of the problem. Our analysis examined how a learner should balance peer and cultural information in dynamic environments under information costs. We analysed this trade-off as a function of (1) the age of cultural information, (2) the rate of environmental change, (3) the reliability of peer information, and (4) information gathering costs. We also explore how cognitive limitations may bias this process. These results contribute to an increasingly detailed picture of the computational problems that individuals face in the context of cultural evolution.