Do big-brained animals play more? Comparative analyses of play and relative brain size in mammals.

Abstract

It has been hypothesized that play is more likely to be present in larger brained species. We tested this hypothesis in mammals using independent contrasts, a method that controls for phylogenetic relatedness. Comparisons across 15 orders revealed that the prevalence and complexity of play was significantly correlated with brain size, with larger brained orders having more playful species. Three orders, Rodentia, Marsupialia, and Primates, were used for within-order comparisons among species and, where possible, among families. The comparisons were not significant for rodents or primates, and those for marsupials yielded inconsistent results. Therefore, although a strong relationship is present at the highest taxonomic level of comparison, it diminishes or evaporates at lower level comparisons.

Análise motivacional, causal e funcional da brincadeira em duas espécies de roedores

“…Pesquisas atuais têm procurado identificar as origens evolutivas (Bekoff & Byers, 1998;Iwaniuk et al, 2001;Pellis & Iwaniuk, 1999, 2000 e as funções ontogenéticas (Spinka et al, 2001;van der Berg et al, 1999) da brincadeira em animais de um modo geral e, de roedores, de modo particular.…”

“…Em termos históricos, constata-se que houve grandes oscilações na publicação de artigos sobre brincadeira em roedores nas últimas três décadas. Através da análise da base de dados PsycINFO de 1970 até 2001, constata-se Análise motivacional, causal e funcional da brincadeira em duas espécies de roedores que as décadas de 80 e 90 foram bastante profícuas no estudo do comportamento lúdico em hamsters dourados e, principalmente, ratos albinos [esses roedores são os mais estudados em laboratório com relação ao estudo da brincadeira (Hole & Einon, 1984;Vieira, 1995) e que apresentam os índices mais elevados de complexidade de brincadeira social, que inclui ataque, defesa, contra-ataque e perseguição, por exemplo (Iwaniuk, Nelson & Pellis, 2001)]. Num total de 140 artigos, cerca de 90% destes foram publicados entre 1980 e 1999.…”

The Socio-religious Brain: A Developmental Model

“…Similarly, Byers (1999) reports a positive correlation between relative brain mass and frequency of social play in Australian marsupials. Iwaniuk et al (2001), however, found a play-brain size relationship between orders of mammals, but not within lower taxonomic groups, including primates and marsupials. Other research has shown that amygdala size predicts sexual adult-adult play in primates (Pellis & Iwaniuk 2002), and that amygdala and hypothalamus size are both positively related to all kinds of social play in non-human primates (Lewis & Barton 2006).…”

Play and Exploration in Animals — A Comparative Analysis

“…Among birds, he found play in corvids and parrots. From a comparative analysis of mammals, it is possible to deduce a positive correlation between the intensity of play and the Encephalization Quotient (Iwaniuk, Nelson, and Pellis, 2001). Although neither clear-cut nor present within individual orders, this relationship is evident from the between-order analysis.…”

“…There is some initial data on play in some invertebrates (Mather and Anderson, 1999). Undoubtedly, the number of animal species in which play remains an important component of behavior in maturity is relatively small, and includes mostly animals with a high Encephalization Quotient (Iwaniuk, Nelson and Pellis, 2001).…”