Evolutionary Perspectives on Visual Self-Recognition, Image Management, and Self-Referent Phenotype Matching

Niko Tinbergen proposed that adequate explanations for any behavior should incorporate information about development, evolution, cause, and function. Researchers investigating visual self-recognition (VSR) have concentrated on answering questions concerning development, evolution, and cause, with little focus on function. We discuss whether VSR is best described as an adaptation, byproduct, or random noise. Although VSR likely originated as a byproduct of a capacity for secondary representation in a hominid ancestor, we propose that it subsequently attained—at least in humans—fitness-enhancing value in relation to self-referent phenotype matching and/or image management. Suggestions are offered for further empirical exploration of these possible functional properties, which can help to shed new light on developmental, evolutionary, and causal issues surrounding VSR.