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 article

• Larissa Mendoza Straffon; Georgina Agnew; Chenika Desch-Bailey et al. (2022). Visual Attention Bias for Self-Made Artworks. (external link)
• Larissa Mendoza Straffon; Brenda de Groot; Naike D. Gorr et al. (2024). Developing drawing skill: Exploring the role of parental support and cultural learning. (external link)
• Larissa Mendoza Straffon (2023). Beyond the image: Interdisciplinary and contextual approaches to understanding symbolic cognition in Paleolithic parietal art. (external link)
• Heidi Øhrn; Emilie Pettersen Sjursen; Karsten Specht et al. (2025). The neural underpinnings of repeated skill transfer in human cultural evolution. (external link)
• Andrea Bender; Larissa Mendoza Straffon; John B. Gatewood et al. (2023). The Dual Role of Culture for Reconstructing Early Sapiens Cognition. (external link)
• Murillo Pagnotta; Mateusz Psujek; Larissa Straffon et al. (2025). Drawing Animals in the Paleolithic: The Effect of Perspective and Abbreviation on Animal Recognition and Aesthetic Appreciation. (external link)
• Larissa Straffon; Claudio Tennie (2025). Art beyond cognition: reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission. (external link)
• Larissa Mendoza Straffon (2021). The Peacock Fallacy: Art as a Veblenian Signal. (external link)
• Brenda de Groot; Naike Goor; Mariska Kret et al. (2023). Development and preliminary validation of a questionnaire to measure parental support for drawing. (external link)

Academic literature review

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

Academic book chapter

• Elizabeth Catherine Velliky; Tammy Hodgskiss; Larissa Straffon et al. (2024). The Framework for Ochre Experiences (Foes) : Towards a Transdisciplinary Perspective on the Earth Material Heritage of Ochre. (external link)

Conference lecture

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

Conference poster

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

Lecture

• Elizabeth Catherine Velliky; Tammy Hodgskiss; Larissa Mendoza Straffon et al. (2021). Ochre Across Deep Time: A conversation exploring ochre's enduring role in human behavior and evolution, and in protecting Earth-systems knowledge. (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