Cumulative cultural evolution is the process of cultural change where knowledge and/or skills accumulate across multiple generations through cultural transmission. It is a characteristic feature specific to human culture, enabling us to produce and improve complex technologies beyond individual capabilities. Various experiments have been conducted on the cumulative cultural evolution of technology. However, due to the lack of specificity in general definitions, the operational definitions necessary for experimental design often differed from study to study. Hence, we introduce Buskell’s (2022) definition of cumulative cultural evolution as a highly concrete definition that is helpful for experimental design. Buskell proposed four types of definitions of improvement: adaptability, efficiency, complexity, and heterogeneity. Reviewing previous literature, we confirmed that these four types of definitions can be applied to previous experiments on cumulative cultural evolution, suggesting that Buskell's concrete definition is useful for those who plan to design an experiment on cumulative cultural evolution in future research. Additionally, we discuss how incorporating perspectives from social and cultural psychology could impact and advance research on cultural evolution.
