Cultural Confusion: Parsimony, Social Learning, and Humpback Whales
In his viewpoint against the general zeitgeist of humpback whale song analyses, Mercado (2022) makes several problematic arguments Although minimized, his arguments are based in parsimony; Mercado is assuming that the most efficient answers are the most likely to be true – an argument not always sup...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f7915fc38bff47b4b43e5c3b822b18bd 2023-05-15T16:35:52+02:00 Cultural Confusion: Parsimony, Social Learning, and Humpback Whales Heidi Lyn 2022-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.09.02.04.2022 https://doaj.org/article/f7915fc38bff47b4b43e5c3b822b18bd EN eng Animal Behavior and Cognition https://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/37/4%20Lyn_ABC_9(2).pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2372-5052 https://doaj.org/toc/2372-4323 doi:10.26451/abc.09.02.04.2022 2372-5052 2372-4323 https://doaj.org/article/f7915fc38bff47b4b43e5c3b822b18bd Animal Behavior and Cognition, Vol 9, Iss 2, Pp 207-212 (2022) humpback whales culture social learning songs Zoology QL1-991 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.09.02.04.2022 2022-12-30T23:29:01Z In his viewpoint against the general zeitgeist of humpback whale song analyses, Mercado (2022) makes several problematic arguments Although minimized, his arguments are based in parsimony; Mercado is assuming that the most efficient answers are the most likely to be true – an argument not always supported by evolutionary data. Parsimony in Mercado’s arguments can be divided into parsimony of mechanism (which mechanism is “simplest”) and parsimony of explanation (one mechanism is better than two). Both of these arguments are flawed. The first because social learning is not as rare or complex as has been previously claimed and the second because complex systems, particularly vocal systems, frequently utilize more than one mechanism of change. Mercado’s data do provide interesting contrasts to the assumptions made by humpback whale researchers, but his use of rhetoric and straw man arguments undermine the potential impact of those data. Article in Journal/Newspaper Humpback Whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Mercado ENVELOPE(-57.467,-57.467,-63.267,-63.267) Animal Behavior and Cognition 9 2 207 212 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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humpback whales culture social learning songs Zoology QL1-991 |
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humpback whales culture social learning songs Zoology QL1-991 Heidi Lyn Cultural Confusion: Parsimony, Social Learning, and Humpback Whales |
topic_facet |
humpback whales culture social learning songs Zoology QL1-991 |
description |
In his viewpoint against the general zeitgeist of humpback whale song analyses, Mercado (2022) makes several problematic arguments Although minimized, his arguments are based in parsimony; Mercado is assuming that the most efficient answers are the most likely to be true – an argument not always supported by evolutionary data. Parsimony in Mercado’s arguments can be divided into parsimony of mechanism (which mechanism is “simplest”) and parsimony of explanation (one mechanism is better than two). Both of these arguments are flawed. The first because social learning is not as rare or complex as has been previously claimed and the second because complex systems, particularly vocal systems, frequently utilize more than one mechanism of change. Mercado’s data do provide interesting contrasts to the assumptions made by humpback whale researchers, but his use of rhetoric and straw man arguments undermine the potential impact of those data. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Heidi Lyn |
author_facet |
Heidi Lyn |
author_sort |
Heidi Lyn |
title |
Cultural Confusion: Parsimony, Social Learning, and Humpback Whales |
title_short |
Cultural Confusion: Parsimony, Social Learning, and Humpback Whales |
title_full |
Cultural Confusion: Parsimony, Social Learning, and Humpback Whales |
title_fullStr |
Cultural Confusion: Parsimony, Social Learning, and Humpback Whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cultural Confusion: Parsimony, Social Learning, and Humpback Whales |
title_sort |
cultural confusion: parsimony, social learning, and humpback whales |
publisher |
Animal Behavior and Cognition |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.09.02.04.2022 https://doaj.org/article/f7915fc38bff47b4b43e5c3b822b18bd |
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ENVELOPE(-57.467,-57.467,-63.267,-63.267) |
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Mercado |
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Mercado |
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Humpback Whale |
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Humpback Whale |
op_source |
Animal Behavior and Cognition, Vol 9, Iss 2, Pp 207-212 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/37/4%20Lyn_ABC_9(2).pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2372-5052 https://doaj.org/toc/2372-4323 doi:10.26451/abc.09.02.04.2022 2372-5052 2372-4323 https://doaj.org/article/f7915fc38bff47b4b43e5c3b822b18bd |
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https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.09.02.04.2022 |
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Animal Behavior and Cognition |
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9 |
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2 |
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207 |
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212 |
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