Abstract
Objects from the Middle Paleolithic period colored with ochre and marked with incisions represent the beginning of non-utilitarian object manipulation in different species of the Homo genus. To investigate the visual effects caused by these markings, we compared humans who have different cultural backgrounds (Namibian hunter–gatherers and German city dwellers) to one species of non-human great apes (orangutans) with respect to their perceptions of markings on objects. We used eye-tracking to analyze their fixation patterns and the durations of their fixations on marked and unmarked stones and sticks. In an additional test, humans evaluated the objects regarding their aesthetic preferences. Our hypotheses were that colorful markings help an individual to structure the surrounding world by making certain features of the environment salient, and that aesthetic appreciation should be associated with this structuring. Our results showed that humans fixated on the marked objects longer and used them in the structural processing of the objects and their background, but did not consistently report finding them more beautiful. Orangutans, in contrast, did not distinguish between object and background in their visual processing and did not clearly fixate longer on the markings. Our results suggest that marking behavior is characteristic for humans and evolved as an attention-directing rather than aesthetic benefit.
Highlights
The emergence of marked objects, either colored or marked with incisions, points to the beginning of human non-utilitarian object manipulation (Bednarik, 1995, 1997) and color symbolism (Roper, 1991; Hovers et al, 2003; Rifkin, 2012; Dayet et al, 2013)
For the statistical analysis of participants’ viewing behavior, we considered large areas of interest (AOI), splitting the screen down the middle and counting fixations on the side of the marked object versus that of the unmarked object
We analyzed the matching of the fixation preference with the aesthetic preference in the two human groups, and, third, we analyzed the spatial aspects of their viewing behavior to find out how the marked and unmarked objects were processed in combination with their background
Summary
The emergence of marked objects, either colored or marked with incisions, points to the beginning of human non-utilitarian object manipulation (Bednarik, 1995, 1997) and color symbolism (Roper, 1991; Hovers et al, 2003; Rifkin, 2012; Dayet et al, 2013). Archeological finds documenting this behavior are very old and date back to cognitively modern humans, and to archaic Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo erectus (Rodríguez-Vidal et al, 2014; Joordens et al, 2015). The objects emerge from their background and for this reason become special (Dissanayake, 2007)
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