Cultural Evolution of Categorization

TL;DR

This paper reviews how categorization evolves culturally, highlighting computational models and experiments, and discusses challenges in understanding how shared categories develop and change across populations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of current research, including models and experiments, and identifies key challenges in studying the cultural evolution of categorization.

Findings

Categories are shared and communicated across minds.

Computational models reveal mechanisms of category evolution.

Laboratory studies demonstrate how categories change over time.

Abstract

Categorization is a fundamental function of minds, with wide ranging implications for the rest of the cognitive system. In humans, categories are shared and communicated between minds, thus requiring explanations at the population level. In this paper, we discuss the current state of research on the cultural evolution of categorization. We begin by delineating key properties of categories in need of evolutionary explanation. We then review computational modeling and laboratory studies of category evolution, including their major insights and limitations. Finally, we discuss remaining challenges for understanding the cultural evolution of categorization.