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If it quacks like a duck: The by-product account of music still stands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2021

Debra Lieberman Open the ORCID record for Debra Lieberman [Opens in a new window]  and
Joseph Billingsley
Debra Lieberman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL33124-0751, [email protected]
Joseph Billingsley
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC27695, USA. [email protected]
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Abstract

Discerning adaptations from by-products is a defining feature of evolutionary science. Mehr, Krasnow, Bryant, and Hagen posit that music is an adaptation that evolved to function as a credible signal. We counter this claim, as we are not convinced they have dispelled the possibility that music is an elaboration of extant features of language.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e106
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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