Autocatalytic networks have been used to model the emergence of self‐organizing structure capable of sustaining life and undergoing biological evolution. Here, we model the emergence of cognitive structure capable of undergoing cultural evolution. Mental representations (MRs) of knowledge and experiences play the role of catalytic molecules, and interactions among them (e.g., the forging of new associations) play the role of reactions and result in representational redescription. The approach tags MRs with their source, that is, whether they were acquired through social learning, individual learning (of pre‐existing information), or creative thought (resulting in the generation of new information). This makes it possible to model how cognitive structure emerges and to trace lineages of cumulative culture step by step. We develop a formal representation of the cultural transition from Oldowan to Acheulean tool technology using Reflexively Autocatalytic and Food set generated (RAF) networks. Unlike more primitive Oldowan stone tools, the Acheulean hand axe required not only the capacity to envision and bring into being something that did not yet exist, but hierarchically structured thought and action, and the generation of new MRs: the concepts EDGING, THINNING, SHAPING, and a meta‐concept, HAND AXE. We show how this constituted a key transition toward the emergence of semantic networks that were self‐organizing, self‐sustaining, and autocatalytic, and we discuss how such networks replicated through social interaction. The model provides a promising approach to unraveling one of the greatest anthropological mysteries: that of why development of the Acheulean hand axe was followed by over a million years of cultural stasis.

中文翻译：

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使用自催化网络模拟文化进化起源的认知转变。

自催化网络已被用于模拟能够维持生命和进行生物进化的自组织结构的出现。在这里，我们模拟了能够经历文化进化的认知结构的出现。知识和经验的心理表征（MRs）扮演催化分子的角色，它们之间的相互作用（例如，新联想的形成）扮演反应的角色并导致表征重新描述。该方法用它们的来源标记 MR，即它们是通过社会学习、个人学习（预先存在的信息）还是创造性思维（导致新的产生）获得的。信息）。这使得建模认知结构如何出现并逐步追踪累积文化的谱系成为可能。我们使用反射性自动催化和食物集生成 (RAF) 网络开发了从 Oldowan 到 Acheulean 工具技术的文化转变的正式表示。与更原始的 Oldowan 石器不同，Acheulean 手斧不仅需要能够想象和实现尚不存在的事物，而且需要分层结构的思想和行动，以及新 MR 的产生：EDGING、THINNING、SHAPING 概念，以及一个元概念，手斧。我们展示了这如何构成了向自组织、自我维持和自动催化的语义网络出现的关键转变，并讨论了此类网络如何通过社交互动进行复制。