For the first time, all three types of play (locomotor, object, and social) have been recorded and described for wild representatives of the family Ochotonidae of the order Lagomorpha. Observations ...have been carried out at a separate settlement of pikas in the Irkutsk district of Irkutsk oblast (Russia). A total of 15 episodes of play were recorded for seven of the 14 animals observed, including ones of different sex and age. Eight episodes have been filmed and subjected to frame-by-frame analysis. We consider the recorded pika behavior to be play because it meets Burghardt’s criteria for play. The play of pikas includes elements (jumping, spinning, and falling on the back) that are easily associated with a temporary loss of control over the body.
•Play behavior is rare occurring sporadically in the phylogenetic tree of animals, with different lineages having evolved distinct forms of play.•Animals seamlessly weave together behavioral elements ...from different types of play in the most complex forms of play.•A phylogenetic model of behavioral transformation is developed to account for how simple forms of play can coalesce into more complex forms.•The model indicates that lineages with multiple complex forms of play can combine these into a 'super play behavior system'.
Given that many behavior patterns cluster together in sequences that are organized to solve specific problems (e.g., foraging), a fruitful perspective within which to study behaviors is as distinct ‘behavior systems’. Unlike many behavior systems that are widespread (e.g., anti-predator behavior, foraging, reproduction), behavior that can be relegated as playful is diverse, involving behavior patterns that are typically present in other behavior systems, sporadic in its phylogenetic distribution and relatively rare, suggesting that play is not a distinct behavior system. Yet the most striking and complex forms of play have the organizational integrity that suggests that it is a behavior system. One model that we develop in this paper, involves three stages of evolutionary transition to account for how the former can evolve into the latter. First, play-like behavior emerges from the incomplete development of other, functional behavior systems in some lineages. Second, in some of those lineages, the behavior patterns typical of particular behavior systems (e.g., foraging) are reorganized, leading to the evolution of specific ‘play behavior systems’. Third, some lineages that have independently evolved more than one such play behavior system, coalesce these into a ‘super system’, allowing some animals to combine behavior patterns from different behavior systems during play. Alternative models are considered, but irrespective of the model, the overall message from this paper is that the conceptual framework of the behavior system approach can provide some new insights into the organization and diversity of play present in the animal kingdom.
Play of younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (siblings;
n
= 44), very preterm children (preterms;
n
= 44), and children at typical likelihood for ASD (
n
= 36) was ...observed at 24 months. Children with ASD and atypical development engaged less in spontaneous (pre-)symbolic play than typically developing children. Total duration of spontaneous and elicited (pre-)symbolic play was associated with later ASD traits in siblings. However, no association between most play variables and ASD traits was found in preterms. This suggests possible different ASD-trajectories between siblings and preterms. Thus, spontaneous (pre-)symbolic play may be indicative of developmental challenges across several populations, and results highlight the need to move beyond studying only siblings in order to broaden our understanding of ASD.
Play, Creativity, and Social Movements Shepard, Benjamin
Play, Creativity, and Social Movements,
2011, 20120523, 2012-05-23, Volume:
57
eBook, Book Chapter
As we play, we step away from stark reality to conjure up new possibilities for the present and our common future. Today, a new cohort of social activists are using it to create social change and ...reinvent democratic social relations. In contrast to work or routine, play must be free. To the extent that it is, it infuses a high-octane burst of innovation into any number of organizational practices and contexts, and invites social actors to participate in a low-threshold, highly democratic process of collaboration, based on pleasure and convivial social relations. Despite the contention that such activities are counterproductive, movements continue to put the right to party on the table as a part of a larger process of social change, as humor and pleasure disrupt monotony, while disarming systems of power. Through this book, Shepard explores notions of play as a social movement activity, considering some of the meanings, applications and history of the concept in relation to social movement groups ranging from Dada and Surrealism to Situationism, the Yippies to the Young Lords, ACT UP to the Global Justice, anti-gentrification, community and anti-war movements of recent years.
Relations among indices of maternal mind-mindedness (appropriate and nonattuned mind-related comments) and children's: (a) internal state vocabulary and perspectival symbolic play at 26 months (N = ...206), and (b) theory of mind (ToM) at 51 months (n = 161) were investigated. Appropriate comments were positively associated with ToM, but were unrelated to internal state language and perspectival symbolic play. Nonattuned comments were negatively correlated with internal state language and perspectival symbolic play, but were unrelated to ToM. Path analyses indicated that the best fit model assumed: (a) indirect links between nonattuned comments and ToM via children's perspectival symbolic play, (b) a direct link between appropriate comments and ToM, and (c) an indirect link between appropriate comments and ToM via children's concurrent receptive verbal ability.
While the psychodynamic understanding of play and play's therapeutic potential was long restricted to the realm of children, Winnicott's work demonstrated the profound significance of the capacity to ...play for healthy mental functioning during adult life. Scattered writings of Erikson, Glenn, and Shopper notwithstanding, the early spark of understanding remained largely ill developed. In Play and Playfulness, the reader is offered an exciting and highly informative set of essays about the psychic area that lies between reality and unreality and between veracity and imagination. It is the area of paradox and creativity. It sustains the self, allows for ego-replenishing regressions, and adds to the joy of the vital and lived experience. This book provides an easy and readable passage to the valley of the transitional experience in which creative synthesis of reality and unreality leads to a world of vigor, enthusiasm, and liveliness. The cultural variations and the clinical implications of such an experience are thoroughly elucidated. The result is a volume replete with technical virtuosity, clinical relevance, and the basic and nearly self evident humane music of the day-to-day experience of life.
Children have the right to play (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989), yet their opportunities to play on their own terms (free play) are under pressure, including online. Drawing on an ...analysis of the qualities of children’s free play across time and cultures, a nationally representative survey of UK 6- to 17-year olds compared their experiences of play across digital and non-digital contexts to identify design features that enhance or undermine children’s digital play and propose evidence-based recommendations for digital products and services likely to be used by children. Children viewed digital play more critically than non-digital play although both were judged poorly on key qualities of ‘intrinsically motivated’, ‘voluntary’, ‘risk-taking’ and ‘safety’. Logistical regression analysis shows that rights-respecting design features contribute to children’s enjoyment of digital play more than premium or freemium designs do, thus supporting Playful by Design recommendations that can benefit children.
Play is widespread across mammalian taxa, but species strongly vary in the ways they play. In less despotic primate species (i.e., with less steep dominance hierarchies, less severe conflicts, and ...more reconciliation), play has been described as being more frequent, cooperative, and freely expressed. To study the link between social play and dominance style, we compared play behavior in free-ranging infants, juveniles and subadults of more despotic Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata, N = 24) and less despotic moor macaques (Macaca maura, N = 17). We found interspecific differences in play behavior that corresponded with the contrasting dominance styles of the study species, largely confirming our predictions. In particular, moor macaques spent a larger proportion of time in solitary and social play than Japanese macaques, while Japanese macaques spent a larger proportion of time in grooming interactions. In moor macaques, play sessions included more players, a larger variety of play behaviors, greater play face rates, a greater proportion of time in contact play, and a higher rate of reciprocal play-biting than in Japanese macaques. Aggressive escalations were not common, but more frequent in Japanese macaques. Finally, a higher frequency of play faces during play sessions predicted the occurrence of more reciprocal play-bites, but not the proportion of time spent in contact play behaviors. Additional studies on other groups and species will allow a better understanding of the link between dominance style and social play.
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