Sensory exploitation and cultural transmission: the late emergence of iconic representations in human evolution

Abstract

Iconic representations (i.e., figurative imagery and realistic art) only started to appear consistently some 45,000 years ago, although humans have been anatomically modern since 200,000-160,000 years ago. What explains this? Some authors have suggested a neurocognitive change took place, leading to a creative explosion, although this has been contested. Here, we examine the hypothesis that demographic changes caused cultural "cumulative adaptive evolution" and as such the emergence of modern symbolic behavior. This approach usefully explains the evolution of utilitarian skills and tools, and the creation of symbols to identify groups. However, it does not equally effectively explain the evolution of behaviors that may not be directly adaptive, such as the production of iconic representations like figurines and rock art. In order to shed light on their emergence, we propose to combine the above-mentioned cultural hypothesis with the concept of sensory exploitation. The concept essentially states that behavioral traits (in this case iconic art production) which exploit pre-existing sensory sensitivities will evolve if not hindered by costs (i.e., natural selection). In this view, iconic art traditions are evolved by piggy-backing on cumulative adaptive evolution. Since it is to date uncertain whether art has served any adaptive function in human evolution, parsimony demands paying more attention to the primary and a functional mechanism of sensory exploitation as opposed to mechanisms of models based exclusively on secondary benefits (such as Miller's, for instance, in which art is proposed to evolve as a sexual display of fitness).

Associated and dissociated neural substrates of aesthetic judgment and aesthetic emotion during the appreciation of everyday designed products

“…Over the last decade, researchers have agreed that art offers pleasing and positive emotions, although various explanations have been proposed. The inducing mechanism may, through interest and finding meaning (Leder et al, 2004;Jakesch and Leder, 2009), induce sudden insight (Kuchinke et al, 2009) and sensory attraction (Verpooten and Nellissen, 2010).…”

The First Appearance of Symmetry in the Human Lineage: Where Perception Meets Art

“…This also reflects ease of perception for realising successful recognition that is associated with positive affect. The attraction to symmetry was therefore likely to have originally derived from underlying perceptual/recognition processes that were exapted as a by-product of perceptual fluency [73] with sensory exploitation also playing a role [74]. This idea is further encapsulated in the following statement, "The more fluently the perceiver can process an object, the more positive is his or her aesthetic response" [72].…”

Neural and behavioural responses to face-likeness of objects in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

“…the famous rock on Mars that looks like a face9) and in random visual noise10. Some have argued that this kind of error occurs because humans are hard-wired to detect faces and that we even unconsciously try to see faces111213. From an evolutionary perspective, the tendency to perceive faces in non-face objects might have adaptive consequences, because they might aid in detecting faces in the environment13; this tendency might lead to successful survival in our social system.…”