Cultural Transmission and Evolution of Mushroom Knowledge: Insights From Mycophobic Norway.

Abstract

This study investigates the cultural transmission of mushroom knowledge through an iterated learning paradigm, focusing on how content-based and model-based biases shape transmission across generations. Norwegian participants, predominantly mycophobic, were arranged in seven linear transmission chains of eight generations each, interacting in dyads. A trained confederate provided initial information about 24 mushrooms regarding edibility (poisonous/edible/inedible), accompanying facts (death/survival/neutral), and the information source's familiarity (familiar/unfamiliar). Results revealed a strong bias toward labeling mushrooms as poisonous, reflecting cultural caution. Model-based biases (familiarity) did not significantly influence transmission, while content-based biases (fact type) affected early fidelity, especially survival-related facts. Over generations, details beyond edibility were progressively lost, with transmission converging on simplified edibility judgments. This suggests cumulative cultural simplification prioritizing survival-relevant information. These findings imply that cultural attitudes influence the transmission of high-risk content, amplifying caution across generations. Despite limitations, this study offers novel empirical data on mushroom knowledge transmission in a mycophobic context and lays the groundwork for cross-cultural comparisons with mycophilic societies.