eSYMB - The Evolution of Early Symbolic Behavior

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 School of Communication and Culture eSYMb Publications and activities

Publications and activities

Our publications

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Pagnotta, M., Wisher, I., Petersen, M. L., Riede, F., Fusaroli, R. & Tylén, K. (2024). The evolution of symbolic artefacts: How function shapes form. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45(3), 261-267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.03.003
Tylén, K., Fusaroli, R., Rojo, S., Heimann, K., Fay, N., Johannsen, N. N., Riede, F. & Lombard, M. (2020). The evolution of early symbolic behavior in Homo sapiens. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 117(9), 4578-4584. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910880117
Wisher, I., Birch, T., Andreasen, R., Canosa, E., Norrehed, S., Reguer, S., Lemasson, Q., Oras, E., Johanson, K., Kinnaird, T., Birndorfer, T., Pedersen, J. B., Scott, J., Pearce, C. & Riede, F. (2025). The earliest evidence of blue pigment use in Europe. Antiquity, 99(408), 1464-1479. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10184
Pagnotta, M., Tylén, K., Qvist, A. S., Kjeldsen, R. F., Rojo, S., Heimann, K., Fay, N., Johannsen, N. N., Riede, F., Lombard, M. & Fusaroli, R. (2026). Simulating Symbolic Evolution in the Lab: Potentials and Implications of Using Transmission Chains to Study Early Symbolic Behavior at the Emergence of Homo sapiens. Topics in Cognitive Science, 18(2), Article e70036. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.70036
Wisher, I. & Tylén, K. (2023). On the semiotic and material constraints of ideographies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, Article e257. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X23000742
Tylén, K., Hussain, S. T., Velliky, E., Gonzalez, R. M. & Straffon, L. M. (2024). Honing Tools of the Mind: A Dynamic Framework for the Study of Symbolic Behavior in Early Human Evolution. PsyArXiv. http://10.31234/osf.io/b8fz2
Wulff, F. N., Kristensen, S. K., Wisher, I. & Tylén, K. (2024). Eyes On the Past: visual exploration of Upper Palaeolithic cave art. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 46. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4xm0h6cn
Wisher, I. & Tylén, K. (2024). Experimenting with the past: an integrative approach to early symbolic evolution . (pp. 1-14). PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/u2jgz
Pagnotta, M., Psujek, M., Straffon, L. M., Fusaroli, R. & Tylén, K. (2026). Drawing Animals in the Paleolithic: The Effect of Perspective and Abbreviation on Animal Recognition and Aesthetic Appreciation. Topics in Cognitive Science, 18(2), Article e70023. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.70023
Wisher, I., Riede, F., Matthews, J., Pagnotta, M. & Tylén, K. (2025). Children as Playful Artists: Integrating Developmental Psychology to Identify Children’s Art in the Upper Palaeolithic. Hunter Gatherer Research, 11(1), 1-39. https://doi.org/10.3828/hgr.2024.38
Wisher, I., Pagnotta, M., Palacio-Pérez, E., Fusaroli, R., Garate, D., Hodgson, D., Matthews, J., Mendoza-Straffon, L., Ochoa, B., Riede, F. & Tylén, K. (2023). Beyond the image: Interdisciplinary and contextual approaches to understanding symbolic cognition in Paleolithic parietal art. Evolutionary Anthropology, 32(5), 256-259. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21996
Kaaronen, R. O., Walsh, M. J., Henrich, A. K., Wisher, I., Miu, E., Manninen, M. A., Eronen, J. T. & Riede, F. (2024). A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 21(221), Article 20240673. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2024.0673

Our activities

Revised 25.04.2024