Network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA) is a statistical tool to detect and quantify social transmission of information or a behaviour in social networks ( SNA, etc.). NBDA assumes that social transmission of a behavior follows the social network of associations or interactions among individuals, since individuals who spend a lot of time together, or who interact more have more opportunity to learn from each other. Therefore, NBDA infers social transmission if the spread of a novel behavior follows the social network of a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

. NBDA thus allows the study of social learning to be linked to

animal behavior Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and objective ...

research that uses social network analysis. NBDA was introduced by Franz & Nunn and further developed by Hoppitt, Boogert, & Laland.

Implementation

NBDA requires prior knowledge about the underlying

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

of a population. In an observational study, the order (or timing) at which individuals in the population acquire a behaviour or information is recorded. NBDA then tests whether the spread of information or behaviour is explained by the previously determined network or not. Because more closely associated individuals are more likely to interact with each other, information is assumed to travel along social ties. If there is a good match between the diffusion of information and the underlying network social transmission is assume. Otherwise, it is assumed that information was asocially acquired (e.g. trial and error, mistakes, etc.).

Application

NBDA does not only serve as a tool for the detection of social learning, but also allows the estimation of the strength of the social transmission effect. In addition, several individual-level variables can be included in the analysis, which have potential influence on an individual's learning rate (e.g. gender, rank or age), and can also be used to model the effect of, and statistically control for potential ecological and genetic influences. NBDA has been successfully used in a number of studies to identify and quantify the effects of social transmission on the spread of behaviors in both wild and captive animal populations such as

starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

s or

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

Examples

* Lobtail-feeding in humpback whales * Foraging strategies in tits * Moss-sponging in chimpanzees

References

External links

* {{cite journal , last1=Franz , first1=M. , last2=Nunn , first2=C. L. , title=Network-based diffusion analysis: a new method for detecting social learning , journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , date=25 February 2009 , volume=276 , issue=1663 , pages=1829–1836 , doi=10.1098/rspb.2008.1824, pmid=19324789 , pmc=2674490 Ethology Research methods Networking algorithms Social network analysis