ArticleFrontiers in psychology2023
Music as aposematic signal: predator defense strategies in early human evolution.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Three evolutionary functions of human music: predator defense, obtaining food, preparation for war.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The role of musical pitch in long-distance defensive signaling.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Review
- The cultural evolution of distortion in music (and other norms of mixed appeal).Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
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Abstract
The article draws attention to a neglected key element of human evolutionary history-the defense strategies of hominins and early humans against predators. Possible reasons for this neglect are discussed, and the historical development of this field is outlined. Many human morphological and behavioral characteristics-musicality, sense of rhythm, use of dissonances, entrainment, bipedalism, long head hair, long legs, strong body odor, armpit hair, traditions of body painting and cannibalism-are explained as predator avoidance tactics of an aposematic (warning display) defense strategy. The article argues that the origins of human musical faculties should be studied in the wider context of an early, multimodal human defense strategy from predators.
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