Outside the empirical box: A multi-methods approach to innovation among Congolese BaYaka forager and Bondongo fisher-farmer children

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Tool innovation has played a crucial role in human adaptation. Yet, this capacity seems to arise late in development. Before the age of eight, many children struggle to solve the hook task, a common measure of tool innovation which requires them to modify a straight pipe cleaner into a hook tool and then use it to extract a prize. However, some evidence suggests that by age four children can innovate a hook during the hook task in settings where hands-on problem solving is encouraged, suggesting that success on the hook task may not be limited as much by age as it is by context. In places where prefabricated toys and tools are unavailable, such as in many small-scale societies, children’s ability to generate innovative solutions to problems may develop at an earlier age. Only two studies have investigated hook innovation in children from non-industrialized societies and despite predictions, they found no differences in innovative ability between sites. However, pipe cleaners were unfamiliar to the children in the small scale societies studied. Here, we investigated how familiarity with pipe cleaners impacts hook task success in 132 (57 females) Congolese BaYaka forager and 59 (23 females) Bondongo fisher-farmer children with estimated ages between four and twelve. We found that neither exposure to pipe cleaners during the two weeks prior to the experiment nor bending practice during the experiment improved children’s performance on the hook task. However, age was a significant predictor of selecting the pipe cleaner first and, interestingly, Bondongo children innovated significantly more hooks than BaYaka children, possibly because the former participates in extensive hook-and-line fishing. We discuss these findings alongside children’s own reports of what pipe cleaners might be used for, and structured observations documenting pipe cleaner uses outside of the experimental context. Although BaYaka and Bondongo children modified the pipe cleaners for many novel uses in their everyday lives, this creative innovation did not often extend to success within the constraints of the hook task.

Authors

• Sarah Michelle Pope, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
  Presenting Author

• Sheina Lew-Levy, Durham University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel Haun, Max Planck Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michelle Ann Kline
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tanya Broesch, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author