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Abstract:
The evolutionary origins of music are much debated. One theory holds that the ability to produce complex musical sounds
might reflect qualities that are relevant in mate choice contexts and hence, that music is functionally analogous to the
sexually-selected acoustic displays of some animals. If so, women may be expected to show heightened preferences for
more complex music when they are most fertile. Here, we used computer-generated musical pieces and ovulation predictor
kits to test this hypothesis. Our results indicate that women prefer more complex music in general; however, we found no
evidence that their preference for more complex music increased around ovulation. Consequently, our findings are not
consistent with the hypothesis that a heightened preference/bias in women for more complex music around ovulation
could have played a role in the evolution of music. We go on to suggest future studies that could further investigate
whether sexual selection played a role in the evolution of this universal aspect of human culture.
