ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2022
Musicality in human vocal communication: an evolutionary perspective.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Three evolutionary functions of human music: predator defense, obtaining food, preparation for war.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Music as a social instrument: a brief historical and conceptual perspective.Frontiers in cognition · 2025Review
- Rhythmic Roots: The Adaptive Functions of Vocal Isochrony and Its Role in Human Music and Language Evolution.Psihologijske teme = Psychological themes = Psychological topics · 2025Article
- The cost of language: functionally over-dominant language circuits in the human brain may limit cognitive abilities and non-verbal executive functions.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Appreciation of singing and speaking voices is highly idiosyncratic.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Music Listening as Exploratory Behavior: From Dispositional Reactions to Epistemic Interactions with the Sonic World.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report.Science advances · 2024Article
- Love songs and serenades: a theoretical review of music and romantic relationships.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Sex-related communicative functions of voice spectral energy in human chorusing.Biology letters · 2023Article
- Testosterone, oxytocin and co-operation: A hypothesis for the origin and function of music.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Nocturnal selective pressures on the evolution of human musicality as a missing piece of the adaptationist puzzle.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Music as aposematic signal: predator defense strategies in early human evolution.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Darwin's sexual selection hypothesis revisited: Musicality increases sexual attraction in both sexes.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
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3 authors.
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Abstract
Studies show that specific vocal modulations, akin to those of infant-directed speech (IDS) and perhaps music, play a role in communicating intentions and mental states during human social interaction. Based on this, we propose a model for the evolution of musicality-the capacity to process musical information-in relation to human vocal communication. We suggest that a complex social environment, with strong social bonds, promoted the appearance of musicality-related abilities. These social bonds were not limited to those between offspring and mothers or other carers, although these may have been especially influential in view of altriciality of human infants. The model can be further tested in other species by comparing levels of sociality and complexity of vocal communication. By integrating several theories, our model presents a radically different view of musicality, not limited to specifically musical scenarios, but one in which this capacity originally evolved to aid parent-infant communication and bonding, and even today plays a role not only in music but also in IDS, as well as in some adult-directed speech contexts. This article is part of the theme issue 'Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact (Part II)'.
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