Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ethology
Date:         Sat, 29 Aug 1992 23:15:30 EDT
From:         Stevan Harnad <harnad@PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject:      Cultural Learning: BBS call for Commentators
Comments: To: Richard Thorington Am Soc Mammalogists <MNHVZ049@SIVM.BITNET>,
              behavioral ecology group <b-e-group@forager.unl.edu>,
              ethology@finhutc.BITNET, James Ha/Absnet <jcha@u.washington.edu>

Below is the abstract of a forthcoming target article on reproductive
success and culture by Michael Tomaello. It has been accepted for
publication in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an international,
interdisciplinary journal that provides Open Peer Commentary on
important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and
cognitive sciences. Commentators must be current BBS Associates or
nominated by a current BBS Associate. To be considered as a commentator
on this article, to suggest other appropriate commentators, or for
information about how to become a BBS Associate, please send email to:

harnad@clarity.princeton.edu  or harnad@pucc.bitnet        or write to:
BBS, 20 Nassau Street, #240, Princeton NJ 08542  [tel: 609-921-7771]

To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, please give some
indication of the aspects of the topic on which you would bring your
areas of expertise to bear if you were selected as a commentator. An
electronic draft of the full text is available for inspection by anonymous
ftp according to the instructions that follow after the abstract.
____________________________________________________________________

                Cultural learning

                Michael Tomasello
                Department of Psychology and Yerkes
                Regional Primate Research Center
                Emory University
                Atlanta, GA 30322

                Ann Cale Kruger
                Department of Educational Foundations
                Georgia State University
                Atlanta, Georgia 30303

                Hilary Horn Ratner
                Department of Psychology
                Wayne State University
                Detroit, MI 48202

   KEYWORDS: culture, cultural learning, imitation, instruction,
   collaboration, social learning, intentionality, joint attention,
   intersubjectivity, theory of mind

   ABSTRACT: This target article presents a theory of human cultural
   learning, a form of social learning in which intersubjectivity or
   perspective-taking plays a vital role, both in the original learning
   process and in the resulting cognitive product. Cultural learning
   manifests itself in three forms during human ontogeny: imitative
   learning, instructed learning, and collaborative learning--in that
   order. Evidence is provided that this progression arises from the
   developmental ordering of the underlying social-cognitive concepts and
   processes involved. Imitative learning relies on a concept of a
   intentional agent and involves simple perspective-taking. Instructed
   learning relies on a concept of a mental agent and involves coordinated
   altering perspective-taking (intersubjectivity). Collaborative learning
   relies on a concept of a reflective agent and involves integrated
   perspective-taking (reflective intersubjectivity). Further evidence for
   these correlations between social cognition and cultural learning is
   provided through a comparison among normal children, autistic children,
   and wild and educated chimpanzees. Cultural learning is a uniquely
   human form of social learning that allows for a fidelity of
   transmission of behaviors and information among conspecifics that
   is not possible in other forms of social learning, thereby providing the
   psychological basis for cultural evolution.


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To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for
this article, an electronic draft is retrievable by anonymous ftp from
princeton.edu according to the instructions below (the filename is
bbs.tomasello). Please do not prepare a commentary on this draft. Just
let us know, after having inspected it, what relevant expertise you
feel you would bring to bear on what aspect of the article.
-------------------------------------------------------------
   To retrieve a file by ftp from a Unix/Internet site, type either:
ftp princeton.edu
   or
ftp 128.112.128.1
   When you are asked for your login, type:
anonymous
   Enter password as per instructions (make sure to include the specified @),
   and then change directories with:
cd /pub/harnad
   To show the available files, type:
ls
   Next, retrieve the file you want with (for example):
get bbs.tomasello
   When you have the file(s) you want, type:
quit

   Certain non-Unix/Internet sites have a facility you can use that is
   equivalent to the above. Sometimes the procedure for connecting to
   princeton.edu will be a two step process such as:

ftp
   followed at the prompt by:
open princeton.edu
  or
open 128.112.128.1

   In case of doubt or difficulty, consult your system manager.

----------

   JANET users who do not have an ftp facilty for interactive file
   transfer (this requires a JIPS connection on your local machine -
   consult your system manager if in doubt) can use a similar facility
   available at JANET site UK.AC.NSF.SUN (numeric equivalent
   000040010180), logging in using 'guestftp' as both login and
   password. The online help information gives details of the transfer
   procedure which is similar to the above. The file received on the
   NSF.SUN machine needs to be transferred to your home machine to read
   it, which can be done either using a 'push' command on the NSF.SUN
   machine, or (usually faster) by initiating the file transfer from
   your home machine. In the latter case the file on the NSF.SUN machine
   must be referred to as directory-name/filename (the directory name to
   use being that provided by you when you logged on to UK.AC.NSF.SUN).
   To be sociable (since NSF.SUN is short of disc space), once you have
   received the file on your own machine you should delete the file from
   the UK.AC.NSF.SUN machine.

   This facility is very often overloaded, and an off-line relay
   facility at site UK.AC.FT-RELAY (which is simpler to use in any
   case) can be used as an alternative. The process is almost identical
   to file transfer within JANET, and the general method is illustrated
   in the following example. With some machines, filenames and the
   username need to be placed within quotes to prevent unacceptable
   transposion to upper case (as may apply also to the transfer from
   NSF.SUN described above).

transfer
Send or Fetch: f
From Remote Filename: princeton.edu:/pub/harnad/bbs.tomasello
To Local Filename: bbs.tomasello
Remote Sitename: uk.ac.ft-relay
Remote Username: anonymous
Remote Password: [enter your full email address including userid for
                  this, or it won't be accepted]
Queue this request? y


   Or if you wish you can get a listing of the available files, by giving
   the remote filename as:

princeton.edu:(D)/pub/harnad

   Because of traffic delays through the FT-RELAY, still another method
   can sometimes be recommended, which is to use the Princeton bitftp
   fileserver described below. Typically, one sends a mail message of
   the form:

FTP princeton.edu UUENCODE
USER anonymous
LS /pub/harnad
GET /pub/harnad/bbs.tomasello
QUIT

   (the line beginning LS is required only if you need a listing of
   available files) to email address BITFTP@EARN.PUCC or to
   BITFTP@EDU.PRINCETON, and receives the requested file in the form of
   one or more email messages.

   [Thanks to Brian Josephson (BDJ10@UK.AC.CAM.PHX) for the above
   detailed UK/JANET instructions; similar special instructions for file
   retrieval from other networks or countries would be appreciated and
   will be included in updates of these instructions.]

---

Where the above procedures are not available (e.g. from Bitnet or other
networks), there are two fileservers:
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
       and
bitftp@pucc.bitnet
that will do the transfer for you. To one or the
other of them, send the following one line message:

help

for instructions (which will be similar to the above, but will be in
the form of a series of lines in an email message that ftpmail or
bitftp will then execute for you).

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Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU