Iterated learning describes the process whereby an individual learns their behaviour by
exposure to another individual's behaviour, who themselves learnt it in the same way. It can …

Highlights•Key design features of language can be explained as the result of cultural
evolution.•Experiments have found that structure emerges through transmission and …

Abstract Language exhibits striking systematic structure. Words are composed of
combinations of reusable sounds, and those words in turn are combined to form complex …

Language is an essential part of what makes us human. Where did it come from? How did it
develop into the complex system we know today? And what can an evolutionary perspective …

Lewis signaling games are a class of simple communication games for simulating the
emergence of language. In these games, two agents must agree on a communication …

Recent work on emerging sign languages provides evidence for how key properties of
linguistic systems are created. Here we use laboratory experiments to investigate the …

The extent to which larger populations enhance cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) is
contentious. We report a large-scale experiment (n= 543) that investigates the CCE of …

How do drawings—ranging from detailed illustrations to schematic diagrams—reliably
convey meaning? Do viewers understand drawings based on how strongly they resemble …

Recent theoretical work in developmental psychology suggests that humans are
predisposed to align their mental states with those of other individuals. One way this …

How does modality affect people's ability to create a communication system from scratch?
The present study experimentally tests this question by having pairs of participants …