Variation of the rate of emergence (A) and conceptual recombinations (B) in the phylomemy, in the vicinity of a merging node.

We observe a peak of conceptual emergence one period before merging, and a rate of conceptual emergence below average at merging nodes; while the rate of recombination is above average at merging nodes and is a monotonous increasing function in the vicinity of merging nodes. Error bars represent the 95% confidence interval.