Music comprises a diverse category of cognitive phenomena that likely represent both the effects of psychological adaptations that are specific to music (e.g., rhythmic entrainment) and the effects of adaptations for non-musical functions (e.g., auditory scene analysis). How did music evolve? Here, we show that prevailing views on the evolution of music – that music is a byproduct of other evolved faculties, evolved for social bonding, or evolved to signal mate quality – are incomplete or wrong. We argue instead that music evolved as a credible signal in at least two contexts: coalitional interactions and infant care. Specifically, we propose that (1) the production and reception of coordinated, entrained rhythmic displays is a co-evolved system for credibly signaling coalition strength, size, and coordination ability; and (2) the production and reception of infant-directed song is a co-evolved system for credibly signaling parental attention to secondarily altricial infants. These proposals, supported by interdisciplinary evidence, suggest that basic features of music, such as melody and rhythm, result from adaptations in the proper domain of human music. The adaptations provide a foundation for the cultural evolution of music in its actual domain, yielding the diversity of musical forms and musical behaviors found worldwide.

中文翻译：

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音乐的起源在于可靠的信号传递

音乐包含多种类别的认知现象，这些现象可能代表音乐特有的心理适应的影响（例如，节奏夹带）和非音乐功能的适应的影响（例如，听觉场景分析）。音乐是如何演变的？在这里，我们表明，关于音乐进化的流行观点——音乐是其他进化能力的副产品，是为了社会联系而进化的，或者是为了表明伴侣质量而进化的——是不完整或错误的。相反，我们认为音乐至少在两种情况下演变为一种可靠的信号：联盟互动和婴儿护理。具体来说，我们建议（1）协调的、夹带的节奏展示的产生和接收是一个共同进化的系统，用于可靠地表明联盟的强度、规模和协调能力；（2）针对婴儿的歌曲的产生和接收是一个共同进化的系统，用于可靠地发出父母对次生早熟婴儿的关注信号。这些得到跨学科证据支持的建议表明，音乐的基本特征，例如旋律和节奏，是人类音乐适当领域的适应的结果。这些改编为音乐在其实际领域的文化演变奠定了基础，产生了世界范围内音乐形式和音乐行为的多样性。