The data are gained from a behavioural experiment, for which we adapted the spaghetti tower task, a task that was previously used to test for accumulation of culture in human adults. Studies based on this dataset investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children were able to copy cumulative technological design and whether they could do so without action information (emulation learning). It is currently debated which social learning mechanisms allow for the generation and transmission of cumulative culture, i.e., cultural traits that no individual could have invented on his/her own but which have accumulated through individuals learning from each other.A baseline condition established that the demonstrated tower design was beyond the innovation skills of individual children this age and so represented a culture-dependent product for them. There were 2 demonstration conditions: a full demonstration (actions plus (end-)results) and an end state- demonstration (end-results only). Children in both demonstration conditions built taller towers than those in the baseline. Crucially, in both demonstration conditions some children also copied the demonstrated tower. The data provide the first evidence that young children learn from, and that some of them even copy, cumulative technological design, and that – in line with some adult studies – action information is not always necessary to transmit culture-dependent traits.The focus of the project was on the ontogenetic origins of cumulative culture within the technical domain. It identified a suitable technical task for studying children's learning in a cumulative cultural context and examined the necessary underlying transmission mechanisms (actions, results or both) for children to copy culture-dependent traits. It also investigated whether young children are already able to produce a ratchet effect.

Behavioural experiments conducted in nursery schools and a museum. Children between 4 and 6 years tested individually by the same female experimenter in a quiet room. Several nurseries and schools in the Birmingham area were contacted. For children tested in the museum: Research took place in a separate, quiet room. The study was advertised on the museum website and through flyers handed out by one of the researchers. Parents/caregivers registered for a study slot by e-mailing one of the researchers. Random assignment to testing conditions.