Humans are selective social learners. In a cultural landscape with many potential models, learners must balance the cost associated with learning from successful models with learning from accessible ones. Using structured interviews, we investigate the model selection biases of Congolese BaYaka adolescent boys learning to hunt with spears (n = 24; mean age [m_age] = 15.79 years; range, 12–20 years). Results from social relations models suggest that adolescents nominated accessible adult men (closely related kin and neighbors) as preferred spear hunting models. Direct cues for success were not strong predictors for adolescent nomination in the statistical models, despite learners justifying model selection according to teaching and spear hunting skill. Indirect cues including body mass index, age, and cross-domain prestige were weak predictors for adolescent nomination. We interpret these findings as suggesting that BaYaka spear hunting knowledge is widely shared in the community, with all adult men participating in spear hunting and therefore having the requisite experience to transmit this skill. This supports previous findings that in egalitarian societies with low rates of role specialization, prestige has limited importance for cross-domain learning.

中文翻译：

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BaYaka 青少年男孩提名无障碍成年男性作为首选的长矛狩猎模特

人类是有选择性的社会学习者。在具有许多潜在模型的文化景观中，学习者必须平衡从成功模型学习与从可访问模型学习相关的成本。使用结构化访谈，我们调查了学习用长矛狩猎的刚果 BaYaka 青少年男孩的模型选择偏差（n = 24；平均年龄 [ m_年龄] = 15.79 年；范围，12-20 年）。社会关系模型的结果表明，青少年提名可接近的成年男性（近亲和邻居）作为首选的长矛狩猎模型。尽管学习者根据教学和长矛狩猎技能证明模型选择是合理的，但成功的直接线索并不是统计模型中青少年提名的有力预测因素。包括体重指数、年龄和跨领域声望在内的间接线索是青少年提名的弱预测因子。我们将这些发现解释为表明 BaYaka 猎枪知识在社区中广泛共享，所有成年男性都参与了猎枪，因此拥有传播这项技能的必要经验。这支持了之前的研究结果，即在角色专业化率低的平等社会中，