Current Conceptions of Human Cognition in Understanding the Origins of Human Art

Abstract

Abstract Current conceptions of human cognition in understanding the origins of human art emphasize that cognition is mainly embodied, that is, crucially integrated in the perceptual and motor systems that essentially organize the brain. In addition, emotions are now suited for a central role in cognition, while the social nature of our brain is also notably highlighted to comprehend human behavior. This chapter considers all these factors in elucidating possible scenarios for the emergence and evolution of human artistic expression, in a new perspective that attempts to understand this apparently bizarre behavior in the frame of more Darwinian, naturalistic and current conceptions of the human mind than normally used, such as “symbolism.” In this regard, different levels of perception and motor control involved in art will be reviewed, as well as their links to affective factors, this providing sufficient reasons for art to arise. Art, as any behavior, would largely depend on the perceptual and motor systems of the brain and the body, these basically varying between species. For that reason, apparent manifestations of art in other human and nonhuman species will also be reviewed and framed within the embodied cognition perspective. Finally, the possible contribution of social variables to explain several peculiarities of human art, such as its success and profusion, will help to complete the picture.