Chittar Chirag Rajendra, Jang Haneul, Samuni Liran, Lewis Jerome, Honing Henkjan, van Loon E Emiel, Janmaat Karline R L
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Front Psychol. 2023 Nov 1;14:1218394. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1218394. eCollection 2023.
Music is a cultural activity universally present in all human societies. Several hypotheses have been formulated to understand the possible origins of music and the reasons for its emergence. Here, we test two hypotheses: (1) the coalition signaling hypothesis which posits that music could have emerged as a tool to signal cooperative intent and signal strength of alliances and (2) music as a strategy to deter potential predators. In addition, we further explore the link between tactile cues and the propensity of mothers to sing toward infants. For this, we investigated the singing behaviors of hunter-gatherer mothers during daily foraging trips among the Mbendjele BaYaka in the Republic of the Congo. Although singing is a significant component of their daily activities, such as when walking in the forest or collecting food sources, studies on human music production in hunter-gatherer societies are mostly conducted during their ritual ceremonies. In this study, we collected foraging and singing behavioral data of mothers by using focal follows of five BaYaka women during their foraging trips in the forest. In accordance with our predictions for the coalition signaling hypothesis, women were more likely to sing when present in large groups, especially when group members were less familiar. However, predictions of the predation deterrence hypothesis were not supported as the interaction between group size and distance from the village did not have a significant effect on the likelihood of singing. The latter may be due to limited variation in predation risk in the foraging areas, because of the intense bush meat trade, and hence, future studies should include foraging areas with higher densities of wild animals. Lastly, we found that mothers were more likely to sing when they were carrying infants compared to when infants were close, but carried by others, supporting the prediction that touch plays an important prerequisite role in musical interaction between the mother and child. Our study provides important insight into the role of music as a tool in displaying the intent between or within groups to strengthen potentially conflict-free alliances during joint foraging activities.
音乐是一种普遍存在于所有人类社会中的文化活动。人们已经提出了几种假设来理解音乐可能的起源及其出现的原因。在这里，我们检验两种假设：（1）联盟信号假设，该假设认为音乐可能作为一种工具出现，用于传达合作意图并表明联盟的信号强度；（2）音乐作为一种威慑潜在捕食者的策略。此外，我们进一步探讨触觉线索与母亲对婴儿唱歌倾向之间的联系。为此，我们调查了刚果共和国姆本杰莱·巴亚卡族猎人采集者母亲在日常觅食过程中的唱歌行为。尽管唱歌是她们日常活动的重要组成部分，比如在森林中行走或收集食物来源时，但关于猎人采集者社会中人类音乐产生的研究大多是在他们的仪式庆典期间进行的。在本研究中，我们通过对五名巴亚卡族女性在森林觅食过程中的焦点跟踪，收集了母亲的觅食和唱歌行为数据。与我们对联盟信号假设的预测一致，女性在大群体中时更有可能唱歌，尤其是当群体成员不太熟悉时。然而，捕食威慑假设的预测未得到支持，因为群体规模与离村庄的距离之间的相互作用对唱歌的可能性没有显著影响。后者可能是由于觅食区域的捕食风险变化有限，因为丛林肉贸易猖獗，因此，未来的研究应纳入野生动物密度更高的觅食区域。最后，我们发现母亲抱着婴儿时比婴儿在身边但由其他人抱着时更有可能唱歌，这支持了触觉在母婴音乐互动中起着重要前提作用的预测。我们的研究为音乐作为一种工具在展示群体之间或群体内部意图以加强联合觅食活动中潜在无冲突联盟方面的作用提供了重要见解。
