ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Performance Science
Unifying the gestural and the vocal in the evolution of culture, the arts, and the brain
Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, Ontario, L8S 4K1
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Abstract
Cultural evolution in humans is based on the transmission of knowledge and know-how through the process of social learning. Humans have evolved two distinct mechanisms of social learning, although they tend to be discussed in completely separate literatures. They are gestural (or motor) learning and vocal learning. Within the arts, gestural learning is important for the evolution of dance and mime, while vocal learning is important for the evolution of oral literature and vocal music. These two learning systems get jointly recruited to mediate the process of impersonation during theatrical role playing; an actor has to depict both the gestural and vocal features of a portrayed character. An evolutionary synthesis of gestural and vocal learning undergirds the human capacity for culture, including the arts. I discuss potential brain mechanisms for this synthesis in which the neural pathways for the gestural and the vocal may converge.
Summary
Keywords
acting, Cultural Evolution, motor learning, Social learning, the arts, vocal learning
Received
16 September 2025
Accepted
17 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Brown. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Steven Brown
Disclaimer
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