tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2356665088551695982.post6858762861808806843..comments2024-01-25T08:52:28.661+01:00Comments on Music Matters | A blog on music cognition: Is music a result of sexual selection? [Revisited]Henkjan Honinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09492535292861909192noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2356665088551695982.post-68079530608229591472012-08-10T10:12:59.655+02:002012-08-10T10:12:59.655+02:00For completeness below a reference to the late Den...For completeness below a reference to the late Denis Dutton and the u-shape of musical complexity, both referred to in the studies discussed in the blog:<br /><br />Dutton, D. (2009). The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, & Human Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.<br /><br />North, A. C. & Hargreaves, D.J. (1995) Subjective Complexity, Familiarity, and Liking for Popular Music. Psychomusicology, 14, 77-93.Henkjan Honinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09492535292861909192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2356665088551695982.post-77043407258198735592012-08-10T06:50:36.623+02:002012-08-10T06:50:36.623+02:00More complex than what? More complex than banging...More complex than what? More complex than banging a stick on a rock?<br /><br />Sexual selected traits will head for quasi-equilibrium where the sum natural and sexual selection pressures are near balance: if the celebrated peacock tail becomes any bigger, he becomes breakfast, and, I guess, the peahens become so besotted that they forget to check whether he can actually walk.<br /><br />Presumably, our musical complexitometer is set at a trade-off point where increasing the complexity may be a turn off. The music of the great seductive crooners is typically quite simple rather than complex, though confoundingly difficult to replicate. <br /><br />I would only try to serenade a trained musician with complex music. We don't rate paintings by the number of brush strokes or the size of the canvas, though these can be good (or bad) qualities of an artwork. Art doesn't obey the simple more-is-better economics of natural selection.<br /><br />If you haven't read it, get Dutton's The Art Instinct. It demonstrated to me why art is attractive and why it is difficult, illusive and even contradictory. There probably was a time when just bumping up the complexity got you laid, but that was a long time ago.Jim Birchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07415199338332642534noreply@blogger.com