OPTIMISATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNOLOGICAL ARTEFACTS An Experimental Study Investigating the Role of Causal Cognition and Social Learning in Micro-society Paradigms

Abstract: Cumulative technological culture - how humans can build upon and improve the technology and tools of earlier generations - has been regarded as a main contributing factor for Homo sapiens' success as a species. In this study we investigate the role of causal cognition and social learning in the optimisation of technological artefacts. We do so through an experimental study where participants optimise a wheel system. Our results show that participants’ causal understanding of the wheel increased as a consequence of the optimisation of the wheel system. The study is a partial replication of a former study by Derex et al. (2019) with further development in the experimental design. The implications of our findings questions the validity of the former experiment by Derex et al. and gives further support in investigations of the role of social learning and causal cognition, and the relevance of micro-society paradigms in research concerning cumulative technological culture.