title: The evolutionary roots of creativity: mechanisms and motivations.
abstract: We consider the evolution of cognition and the emergence of creative behaviour, in relation to vocal communication. We address two key questions: (i) what cognitive and/or social mechanisms have evolved that afford aspects of creativity?; (ii) has natural and/or sexual selection favoured human behaviours considered 'creative'? This entails analysis of 'creativity', an imprecise construct: comparable properties in non-humans differ in magnitude and teleology from generally agreed human creativity. We then address two apparent problems: (i) the difference between merely novel productions and 'creative' ones; (ii) the emergence of creative behaviour in spite of high cost: does it fit the idea that females choose a male who succeeds in spite of a handicap (costly ornament); or that creative males capable of producing a large and complex song repertoire grew up under favourable conditions; or a demonstration of generally beneficial heightened reasoning capacity; or an opportunity to continually reinforce social bonding through changing communication tropes; or something else? We illustrate and support our argument by reference to whale and bird song; these independently evolved biological signal mechanisms objectively share surface properties with human behaviours generally called 'creative'. Studying them may elucidate mechanisms underlying human creativity; we outline a research programme to do so.
authors: School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4FZ, UK geraint.wiggins@qmul.ac.uk.
authors: Geraint A
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1587-112X
authors: GA
authors: Wiggins
authors: Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 8LB, UK.
authors: Peter
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8409-4790
authors: P
authors: Tyack
authors: Animal Behavior, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustraße 6, Berlin 14195, Germany.
authors: Constance
authors: C
authors: Scharff
authors: Institut für Kunst- und Musikwissenschaft, Technische Universität Dresden, August-Bebel-Straße 20, Dresden 01219, Germany.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Rohrmeier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D003071:Cognition; D003405:Creativity; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009042:Motivation; D014828:Vocalization, Animal; D014907:Whales
keywords: computational modelling; creativity; information theory; music; vocal communication
references: Curr Biol. 2011 Apr 26;21(8):687-91
references: 21497089
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2012 Jul 19;367(1598):1984-94
references: 22688634
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2014 Jun 22;281(1785):20140460
references: 24807258
references: Mol Genet Genomics. 2012 Apr;287(4):337-49
references: 22392540
references: Learn Behav. 2004 Feb;32(1):4-14
references: 15161136
references: Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2013 Sep;13(3):533-53
references: 23605956
references: Nature. 2000 Nov 30;408(6812):537
references: 11117730
references: Top Cogn Sci. 2012 Oct;4(4):625-52
references: 22847872
references: Neuroimage. 2010 Mar;50(1):302-13
references: 20005297
references: Trends Ecol Evol. 1998 Oct 1;13(10):415-20
references: 21238370
references: Science. 2014 Jun 20;344(6190):1334-7
references: 24948718
references: J Theor Biol. 1975 Sep;53(1):205-14
references: 1195756
references: Front Hum Neurosci. 2014 May 13;8:310
references: 24860485