Evoutionary Basis of the Arts

ADAPTATIONS

BYPRODUCTS

GENETIC NOISE

So, there are 3 HYPOTHESES[1]:

1. Engagement in fictional activity is a functional adaptation which contributed to the survival and reproduction of our ancestors [1]

SUPPORT FOR

BASIC FACTS OF CULTURE

art, music, and fiction are universal across all cultures, and specific to our species[1]

[5] earliest musical artefact found in southern Germany and dated to 36,000 BP

[5] this date coincides with the arrival of modern humans to Europe

[5] the artefact, and others in the area and of the same time, are sophisticated which indicates a great time investment

must have been very important

the vocal and auditory abilities that enable music today were present in human ancestors 500,000 years ago [5]

intrinsicaly rewarding, with no obvious payoff - "appetite for recreation" [1]

rewarding states of mind are a result of artistic pursuits [1]

implies that the brain is designed - adapted - to reward stimuli associated with artistic actions[1]

people spend a substantial time and energy engaged in art-related activities [1]

CULTURE

Culture is not separate from human evolution [3]

behavior that is culture - production, performance, enjoyment of art, music, literature seems to have no relation to evolutionary fitness[3]

[3] is cultural profduction undirected altruism?

ART AS ADAPTATION

HYPOTHESES ON THE ADAPTIVE VALUE OF ARTS

Music and Language

MUSIC AS A TYPE OF LANGUAGE [5]

[5] music and language coexist in all societiesand fulfill complementary functions

How music and language DIFFER:

[5] meanings elicited by music are less precise and more susceptible to change according to context

music can entrain [5]

[5] coordination of participant's behaviors according to musical sounds and actions (i.e., rhythm0

[5] continuous correction of errors in tempo and is automatic - no conscious intervention

even just listening relies on entrainment provesses [5]

entrainment appears to be unique to humans [5]

How music and language are SIMILAR:

[5] communicative, representational elicit meaning

affective powers, regulates moods and emotional states in individuals and groups [5]

affectiv dimensions serves as a group bonding tool [5]

complex - complexitiy in music is analagous to phonological grammar [5]

[5] Darwin thought that music was a functional component of sexual selection processes in that it was used to attract mates

[5] this is why music generates emotion and changes of mind state

[5] speech is also a part of sexual selection, and oratory has parallels to music in rhythm and pitch

Darwin thought music was a precursor to language [5]

Subtopic

Miller [5] music is a medium that displays creative assets

FOR

[5] these creative assets assist in maintaining social dominance and

ability to follow rules of tonality, rhythm, melody, harmony, and individual cultural variations is analagous to birdsong in that just as a songbird's ability to accurately replicate and perform it's species or region-specific song demonstrates is successful growth and development, musical abilities signify good mental state and vocal abilites (perhaps indicates a good developing/growing up envioronment, thus helthy) [cite lecture or look through an beh paper]

[5] Jimi Hendrix: sexual opportunities afforded by rock-star status

furthermore, music is/was used for courtship [5]

AGAINST

might expect sexual dimorphism in musical abilities [5] but that's not what we see

musical roles may be sexually differentiated, but musicalityi is equally exhibited in females and males

[5] a trait sexually selected for usually appears in or around sexual maturity, but infants have impressive musical abilities

2. changes to body

what effect do cultural adaptations have on the body??

MUSIC

[3] rhythmic sound is a large part of human life

heartbeat

swing of arms and legs in walking

Subtopic

[3] when listening to music, muscle action increases in the legs compared to when at rest with no music to listen to

[3]changes in blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration

conducting symphony: the highest pulse rates are not during the greatest physical effort, but during the sections the conductor finds the most "moving" [3]

pulse rate can be varied through dynamic (loudness) changes and rhythm (acceleration and decceleration) [3]

lullabies decrease and marches increase muscular strength (harrer, but in [3])

[5] eeven passive listening activates brain areas associated with motor planning

ART

there is little sign of motor or any bodily reactions to great art [3]

1. changes to external world

social environment (behavior of conspecifics) is as important as the physical environment in social species [5]

[5] INTER-GROUP EFFECTS

Effects on idividual fitness

Effects on group fitness

[5] a group's unique individual style provides protection against free-riders (cheater) (similar to language)

[5]less musical grops will appear less strongly bonded, and weaker

[5]music strengthens or signals the strength of a group (will appear cohesive, styrongly bonded)

[5] benefits the group fitness

[5] INTRA-GROUP EFFECTS

Effects on individual fitness

[5]benefits the individual fitness

mediates social interactions between idividuals inside the group

Effects on group fitness

[5]group identity is formulated and reinforced, cooperation icreases, social relations eased

these hypotheses focus on music as display, and ignore music as participatory behavior [5]

MUSIC AS A PRECURSOR TO LANGUAGE

[5] learning to perceive and produce music helps develop infant linguistic abilities

musical abilities stem from musical interactions between infant and mother

[5] became a biologically ritualized behavior

led to longer periods of infant dependency

[5] there is evidence that our ancestors had shorter juvenile periods

longer juvenile period must have allowed early humans more time to learn to navigate social interactions

[5] longer juvenile period infused with musical experiences pushed music into the adult life as well

a dual purpose, in addition strengthening mother-infant bonds through affection [5]

first cited by Spencer

MUSIC AND LANGUAGE EVOLVED FROM THE SAME BASIC plave [5]

hypothesis: music and language evolved out of a shared "proto-faculty" [5]

musical features of speech: pitch, cadence, timbre

[5]some researchers (Levman) see the use of sound for communication by non-human animals to be the same as the human ability for music (hmm, don't agree)

[5] Levman thinks music is non-symbolic

most ethologists disagree: non-human animals do not produce music [5]

Music is a peak shift in primitive vocalizations [6]

causes an exaggerated emotional response, because the sounds are somewhat instinctual to us [6]

Literature

an adaptive theory explaining human involvement in fiction should[4] :

1. explain why we experience it as "fun"

[4] humans have a basic cognitive capacity for creating and enjoying fictions

2. explain why we get mentally and emotionally involved

3.exlain why it has an educational function

literary narrative has a cognitive function [7]

safely, efficiently acquire knowledge[7]

[7] about the environment, gathering food or hunting, about predators

[7] traditional stories instruct moral codes

stories influence ehavior by substituting verbal representaions for potentially costly first hand experience[7]

[7] example: a traditional story in a population of indiginous Malaysian people iinstructed them to move to higher ground when the earth shakes; causing them to avoid the destruction of a tsunami (Moken people)

[7] example, East Africa, girls are taught through stories the secrets of a successful marriage (i.e., how to handle males)

traditional storytelling is a kinship strategy and a way for parents to influence their descendants' behavior [7]

reciprocal altruism is a common theme of traitional children's stories in ALL cultures[7]

[7] teach children how to come out ahead in reciprocal altruist situations, which make up a large part of human social interactions [7]

example: teaching children to say thank you [7]

many children's stories tell how to detect, and appropriately respond to, cheaters

Monitoring for cheaters is very important when humans increasingly have one-off interactions with others in the modern world

must be able to spot a cheater and make a decision as to how to respond quickly and with little information to go on

even harder is disguising the discrimination, as this could lead to the focal individual getting a "cheater" status! [7]

instruction through stories helps children learn and be more successful more quickly [7]

think of the Little Red Hen story, in which the animals don't help the hen, so she doesn't share her bread with them. [7]

stories encourage altruism by teaching that rewards will com (which is not always the case in real life) [7]

consider the fairy tale in which the prince rescues a maiden - this, made out to be heroic and self-sacrificing, undoubtedly results in increased fitness for the male through mating opportunities (although in the story, usually the prince is allowed to marry the maiden, or something similarly G-rated) [7]

[7] or, stories deomonstrate BIG rewards for small acts of kindness - like a recent pop country song about a man who listens to the life story of an older gentleman in a bar, and a week later the older gentleman dies and leaves his considerable fortune to the patient, kind listener.

the behaviors of telling and listening to stories may be subject to natural selection [7]

the general theory: traditional stories encourage behaviors that helpedancestors survive in the past

humans have evolved the cognitive machnery necessary to participate in fictions / imagined worlds [1]

implies selection pressure and fitness benefit

PRETENSE COGNITIVE MACHINERY

machinery in brain that makes imagination possible can be selectively impaired while other faculties are still usable - which implies a specialized subsystem, not a byproduct of intelligence in general [1]

DECOUPLING [1]

adaptation whose function is to separate pretend from reality - the fiction from our store of real world knowledge[1]

[1] ancestors evolved ability to use information that is only true temporarily, locally, or situationally

allowed for more variety in fitness-improving behaviors than other species [1]

information outside of its particular scope of conditions could be harmful [1]

humans also had to evolve the ability to separate these truth areas and establish, maintain boundaries [1]

resulted in large set of new adaptations: specifically, new information formats - "scope syntax" whish tags and tracks the boundaries within which certain pieces of info can be safely used

[3] another claim that art is a manifestation of a single impulse, be it music, art, poetry

[1] one new adaptation is decoupling

this makes fiction - in lit, plays, opera, movies, etc - easier to understand. Fiction is just another scope syntax [1]

how is this evolutionarily stable? How does it improve fitness?

activities which organize an adaptation do not have to be done by encountering the actual thing, or performing the actual task [1]

[1] organizing activities may be dangerous, limited, or not timely

[1] this requires that the stimulus requirements are met: that there is ABSTRACT ISOMORPHISM between the organizing activity and the functional task

play chasing - running down prey

figuring out characters' motives in a book - reading your boss' intentions

Adaptations of human cognitive machinery necessary for abstract isomorphism [1] :

1. detect activities that are ismorphisms

2. guide actions in order to gain from the experience

3. extract the organizing info

4. decouple the irrelevant info

pretend play is very similar to adults' involvement in fictional worlds - literature, movies, plays, music [1]

intrinsically rewarding[1]

non-instrumental[1]

involves mental representation of state of affair that is known to be false[1]

Subtopic

conditions that can be changed to improve fitness are [1] (arts improve fitness through changes to the mind)

3. changes to brain/mind

neurocognitive adaptation operates in two modes [1]

[4] entertainment (including arts) relies on cognitive adaptations for pretend play

[4] biological function: train predator evasion strategies

play enables plentiful resources to be used to prepare for events that are rare and dangerous, or expensive

pretense, or creation of a fiction, is used to access spaces of actions

pretense is very similar to human entertainment from books, movies, and music

[4] boredom is a design feature used to motivate the finding/creation of a learning environment

[4] if pretense is designed by natural selection, it is expected that it would have a motivational component [4]

[4] enjoyment of play signals that it is a good learning environment

OR, [4] it simply pusheds our pleasure buttons

this theory is accepted by many theorists: Fagen, Bruner, Vygotsky, and Piaget [4]

[4] chase play evolved as a result of selectiuon pressure to lower the cost of developing predator evasion skills

chase play is a type of pretend play

pretend play = fiction, analagous to plays, movies,

what is play? [4] bahvior that develops, practices, or tunes physical, cognitive, or social abilities [Fagen, but from [4]]

[4] it is an adaptive design for exploiting available resources in a safe environment - a low cost training opportunity

[4] natural selection did not act directly to favor pretend play, b/c if an individual failed to engage in it, it wouldn't IMMEDIATELY die

[4] instead, natural selection acted on small differences in predator evasion abilities

[4] the quality to self-construction derived from the play is what natural selection acts upon

1. functional mode: performing evolved function (visual system analyzing a scene, language system saying something)[1]

2. ORGANIZATIONAL MODE: construct adaptation, organize it, tune it sothat it behaves correctly[1] Also explained by [4]: evolution produced cognitive adaptations designed to make use of surplus resources in a safe environment in order to train the individual to deal with dangerous, rare, expensive situations they may encounter in the future

each psychological adaptation should come with its own aesthetic to assist the individual in preparing it

to develop/tune/calibrate the neurocognitive system [1]

activities that take place in organizational mode usually require a very high level of skill in functional (executive) mode [4]

specifically, [1] cites babbling, play chasing, and play fighting (can make parallel to adult engagement in arts)

many non functional behaviors may be driven by adaptations acting in organizational mode [1]

[4] characteristics of behaviors in organizational mode:

1. take place spontaneously

2. the individual experiences them as "rewarding"

3. they do not require that a conscious intention to learn

so the activity will seem purposeless but fun [4]

this aesthetic motivation is a necesary guidance system to develop an adaptation, appears as as desire to experience aspects of the world[1]

organizing the brain physicall and informationally[1]

construct itself [1]

[4] some info necessary to self-construct comes from the genes, and some comes from the environment: the minds of others, or the objects they create

readying brain to perform its function as well as possible[1]

be at optimal readiness to deal with challenges[1]

calibration of systems [4]

POETRY (literature)

[3] poetry calls upon the full content of the meaining of a word

possible exercise in language understanding? [3]

sound structure which also preserves the actual words [3]

this is done when the price of doing these organizing behaviors is not too great[1] - i.e., indiv. is safe and fed, without reproductive opportunities

makes sense that payoff is greater at a young age, when competing opportunities are lower - and we see this, in tht children are immersed (and we are ok with) in fiction for the majority of their childhood

also, since these activities in organizational mode are done when the individual is "at leisure" - this explains why humans today spend such a lot of time involved in arts - we have more leisure time than ever before [4]

[4] natural selection acts on variables that affect the conditions under which a cognitive mechanism can be optimized

AGAINST

2. "" is an accidental byproduct with no function (aka, a susceptibility) [1]

SUPPORT FOR

Steven Pinker suggests that art "picks the locks" of the brain's pleasure circuits [1]

features of the visual arts, music, and literature take advantage of design features of the brain which were subject to selection pressure, because they solved other adaptive problems - like understanding language, social interactions, and visuals [1].

music causes pleasure in mental faculties of language, auditory scene analysis, emotional calls, habitat selection, motor control, [5]

[5] does not think that music is an evolutionary adaptation, and that has no biological purpose

[5] considers music to be technology (i.e., a human capacity developed and exploited for its own sake, and is evolutionarily neutral

Sperber, 1996, Explaining Culture [but from 5] hypothesis: in human evolution, a mental ability arose to deal with complex sounds varying in pitch and rhythm

these sounds were produced by the human vocal system and used for communication

there was selection pressure to use this ability, as it contributed to better understanding and detection of social signals

this mental module evolved to be finer and finer tuned, earlier module still present [5] and is the source of our pleasure associated with music

module no longer has the same function, but now has a cultural application

Sperber: "humans have created a cultural domain for music, whish uses the cognitive module (which was not originally evolved for this purpose)

AGAINST

Probably NOT a byproduct, though because

"Appetite for truth" model [1]

survival depends on obtaining accurate information about the world - so any organism with an appetite (thus a reward system) for truth would have increased fitness [1]

it's as if humans can switch off their aversion to false information [1]

so you would THINK that the distinction between truth and lies determines whether info is absorbed or disregarded [1]

but we don't see this: humans would often prefer to read fiction than biographies, and movies than documentaries[1]

we are super interested in FALSE info

The arts are not a byproduct of an attempt to provide truthful info, not even close [1]

genes that enable these behaviors are a result of chance spreading [1]

not likely, due to motivational features and organization [1]

A single theory: human finds something beautiful because it creates a stimulus which signals to the human that it is advantageous to pay attention to it - opposite sex, game animals, landscapes [1]

Multiple theories: [1] disagree with a SINGLE theory of beauty, because they think beauty is different depending on what adaptation is creating the rewarding state (it is operating in organizational mode

TEST PATTERN THEORY: [1] think that many that music (harmonically resonant acoustic phenomena), art (colors, landscapes, skyscapes) are experienced as beautiful because their properties allow them to function as test patterns for our perceptual machinery

[1] the brain knows what the signals SHOULD look like, and does a comparison between input and expectation, makes corrections

VISUAL ART and COMMUNICATION

Visual art has adaptive explanations based on 8 LAWS OF VISUAL ARTISTIC EXPERIENCE[6]

I

PEAK SHIFT EFFECT

[6] principle of animal discrimination learning - a rat can be trained to discriminate and respond to a rectangle with an aspect ratio of 3:2, but displays an even greater response to a rectangle with an aspect ratio of 4:1

"super stimulus" helps us understand the provocativeness of art [6]

[6] hat the artist tries to do is amplify the effect on the neural system, more so than the actual object would

more powerful version of communication? more impactful?

examples:

Sex (Male/Female)

accentuated hips and bust of a sculpture of the goddess Parvati - not a realistic woman, but takes what makes a woman's form different from a man's and exaggerates that [6]

[6] may be neurons in the brain that fire specifically in response to the image of a female form - the more toward "female" the image along the conuous spectrum between male and female, the stronger the "female!" response

form

caricatures

display - and accentuate/exaggerate - essential features that make a certain face (form) unique but discard (downplay) irrelevant (average face) information [6]

color

cherub- like paintings of nudes by Boucher

exaggerated pink, round cheeks create a super healthy glow [6]

color in the face normally signals health, but this is a "super-stimulus" for health [7]

[6] artitsts may be unconsciously producting high activity in form areas unconsciously

[6] for example, the excite the visual neurons that represent color memories of flowers MORE than a real flower would

II

grouping principles

[6] why we coordinate colors in our clothing or homes

discover and dilineate objects --> extract correlations

this is how we are able to see a forest, and ditinguish a bird and a deer from the trees

our vision system correlates similar trees together

like any successful adaptation, there is a reward system for the process and completion of correlating/grouping objects

III

Isolate a single module to allocate attention

one of the first and main functions of the vision system: locate and delineate objects

has to be reinforcing in order to provide incentive to do so

explains why we enjoy the effort, and not just the result (otherwise, we might give up!)

[6] may be a direct link in the brain between cognitive processes that discover objects and the limbic system (which provide the pleasurable/rewarding feelings [6]

i.e., defeat camoflauge [6]

cells in the visual pathway are stimulated by edges and do not pay attention to homogenous regions [6]

explains why outlines are more effective as "art" than a photograph of the same thing [6]

IV

Contrast Extraction

regions of change (in luminosity, texture or color) are similar to outlines, in that they grag the attention of our visual systems

principle often used in nature (though oppositely, in camoflauge) [6]

V

perceptual problem solving

[6] an objects discovered after a struggle is more pleasing (aesthetically) than one that is instantly obvious

classifying objects

vital for survival: prey v. predator, edible vs. inedible, etc [6]

seeing the similarity is the basis for sensing a connection and forming a CONCEPT[6]

[6]since vitaly survival, there is reward from the limbic system

[6]much of creating, critiquing, and understanding art is forming concepts

most biologically important objects are symmetrical[6]

prey

mates

offspring/conspecifics[6]

AND, a parasitic infestation during development that reduces fertility also effect facial and bodily symmetry [6]

aesthetics: principles underlying why we consider things beautiful or not and how our minds process this [2]

theory of beauty has limited scope in understanding culture [3]

because beauty is not so much an accepted criterion in the visual arts today[3]

more important:

impact

stimulation of interest

ceonceptual, not aesthetic, response