A computational model of social-learning mechanisms

In this article we propose a computational model that describes how observed behavior can influence an observer’s own behavior, including the acquisition of new task descriptions. The sources of influ-ence on our model’s behavior are: beliefs about the world’s possible states and actions causing tran-sitions between them; baseline preferences for certain actions; a variable tendency to infer and share goals in observed behavior; and a variable tendency to act efficiently to reach rewarding states. Act-ing on these premises, our model is able to replicate key empirical studies of social learning in chil-dren and chimpanzees. We demonstrate how a simple artificial system can account for a variety of biological social transfer phenomena, such as goal-inference and over-imitation, by taking into account action constraints and incomplete knowledge about the world dynamics. Keywords social learning · imitation · emulation · computational model