I am a Research Fellow at the Department of Psychosocial Science, working in the ERC Synergy Project 'Evolution of Cognitive Tools for Quantification' QUANTA and I am affiliated to the Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour, SapienCE.  

My main research interests are the evolutionary origins of human mind and behaviour with a special focus on visual art practices, which I see as a good case study for understanding cognitive and cultural evolution, in general. At SapienCE, I collaborate in the subproject The Symbolic Mind, Cognition, and Social Organisation. Until 2023 I also conducted research at Leiden University (Netherlands) on the perception and production of visual signs in phylogeny and ontogeny, funded by The John Templeton Foundation.

My doctoral thesis dealt with evolutionary models of the origins of visual art, and was completed at Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. I obtained a Master’s degree in Human Origins at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University, and I hold a licentiate degree in archaeology from the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH), in Mexico City.

Academic lecture

• Muller, Antoine; Straffon, Larissa; Shipton, Ceri et al. (2025). Searching for the origins of recursive thinking via the complexity of stone toolmaking. (external link)
• Muller, Antoine; Straffon, Larissa; Shipton, Ceri et al. (2025). Stone toolmaking and cognitive complexity: Searching for the origins of hierarchical and recursive reasoning in the Palaeolithic. (external link)
• Muller, Antoine; Armitage, Simon James; d'Errico, francesco et al. (2024). Many ways to get to the point: Experimental insights into the behavioural complexity involved in Middle Stone Age point-making. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza (2022). Origins of Art: the Intersection of Cognitive and Cultural Evolution. (external link)
• d'Errico, Francesco; Colagé, Ivan; Straffon, Larissa Mendoza et al. (2021). When, how and why did symbolic practices emerge and become more complex?. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza (2021). Human cognition: species or culture specific?. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza (2021). Cognitive and Cultural Diversity in Human Evolution. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza (2021). Visual art origins: Assessing cognition, communication, and material culture. (external link)
• Bender, Andrea; Straffon, Larissa Mendoza; Beller, Sieghard (2021). The dual role of culture for (early) human cognition. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza (2020). The Symbolic Capacity as a Basis of Human Cognition in Evolution and Development. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza; Bender, Andrea (2020). Unravelling past cognition: Approaches across disciplines. (external link)

Poster

• Straffon, Larissa (2024). Weaving the Fabric of Mathematics: Grounding Mathematical Knowledge in Fibre Technologies. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza (2020). Enculturing cognition: integrating material culture in human cognitive evolution. (external link)

Academic article

• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza; Groot, Brenda de; Gorr, Naike D. et al. (2024). Developing drawing skill: Exploring the role of parental support and cultural learning. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza (2023). Beyond the image: Interdisciplinary and contextual approaches to understanding symbolic cognition in Paleolithic parietal art. (external link)
• Groot, Brenda de; Goor, Naike; Kret, Mariska et al. (2023). Development and preliminary validation of a questionnaire to measure parental support for drawing. (external link)
• Bender, Andrea; Straffon, Larissa Mendoza; Gatewood, John B. et al. (2023). The Dual Role of Culture for Reconstructing Early Sapiens Cognition. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza; Agnew, Georgina; Desch-Bailey, Chenika et al. (2022). Visual Attention Bias for Self-Made Artworks. (external link)
• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza (2021). The Peacock Fallacy: Art as a Veblenian Signal. (external link)

Academic literature review

• Straffon, Larissa Mendoza; Papa, Aliki; Øhrn, Heidi et al. (2023). The different paths to cultural convergence. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Selected publications 

Mendoza Straffon, L. (2019). Evolution and the Origins of Visual Art: An archaeological perspective. Handbook of Evolutionary Research in Archaeology. A. Prentiss (Ed.), Springer. Pp. 407-435.

Mendoza Straffon, L. (2019). The Uses of Cultural Phylogenetics in Archaeology. Handbook of Evolutionary Research in Archaeology. A. Prentiss (Ed.), Springer. Pp. 149-160.

Kret, M. & L. Mendoza Straffon (2018). Reply to Crivelli et al.: The different faces of fear and threat. Evolutionary and cultural insights. Journal of Human Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.11.006

Mendoza Straffon, L. (2016). The Applications and Challenges of Cultural Phylogenetics in Archaeology: An Introduction. Cultural Phylogenetics: Concepts and Applications in Archaeology. L. Mendoza Straffon (Ed.), Interdisciplinary Evolution Research, Springer. Pp. 1-15.

Mendoza Straffon, L. (2016). Signalling in Style: On Cooperation, Identity and the Origins of Visual Art. Understanding Cultural Traits: A Multidisciplinary Perspective on Cultural Diversity. F. Panebianco & E. Serrelli (Eds.), Springer. Pp. 356-374.

Mendoza Straffon, L. (2014). Art in the Making: The Evolutionary Origins of Visual Art as Communication Signal. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-90- 8555-090-7