The Evolution of Dance
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Publication Date
2016-01-11Journal Title
Current Biology
ISSN
0960-9822
Publisher
Elsevier (Cell Press)
Volume
26
Pages
R5-R9
Language
English
Type
Article
Metadata
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Laland, K., Wilkins, C., & Clayton, N. (2016). The Evolution of Dance. Current Biology, 26 R5-R9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.031
Abstract
Evidence from multiple sources reveals a surprising link between imitation and dance. As in the classical correspondence problem central to imitation research, dance requires mapping across sensory modalities, and the integration of visual and auditory inputs with motor outputs. Recent research in comparative psychology supports this association, in that entrainment to a musical beat is only observed in animals capable of vocal and motor imitation. Dance possesses representational properties reliant on the dancers' ability to imitate particular people, animals or events, as well as the audience's ability to recognize these correspondences. Imitation also plays a central role in learning to dance, and the acquisition of the long sequences of choreographed movements are dependent on social learning. These, and other, lines of evidence suggest that dancing may only be possible for humans because its performance exploits existing neural circuitry employed in imitation
Sponsorship
Research supported in part by ERC Advanced (EVOCULTURE, ref: 232823) and John Templeton Foundation grants to KNL. We are indebted to Mark Baldwin, Nadia Stern and the dancers and rehearsal directors of Rambert for helpful discussion.
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.031
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/252841
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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