Gordon M Burghardt, Sergio M Pellis, Jeffrey C Schank, Paul E Smaldino, Louk J M J Vanderschuren, Elisabetta Palagi
The nature of play in animals has been long debated, but progress is being made in characterizing play and its variants, documenting its distribution across vertebrate and invertebrate taxa, describing its mechanisms and development, and proposing testable theories about its origins, evolution, and adaptive functions. To achieve a deeper understanding of the functions and evolution of play, integrative and conceptual advances are needed in neuroscience, computer modeling, phylogenetics, experimental techniques, behavior development, and inter- and intra-specific variation...
March 6, 2024: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews