Play has been a neglected field for serious scientists (Image: Oneworld)
PERHAPS because of its non-serious nature, play has been a neglected, even embarrassing subject for serious scientists. Little work has been done on what it’s for – that is, its evolutionary function. The Playful Brain has a stab at rectifying this, with some success.
Play is so complicated, say the authors, that to understand it we need to build up a towering “layer cake” of information about neurology, physiology and juvenile development. Primates are difficult to experiment on – for this reason, and because of the authors’ area of…
