Upcoming
No.280
From curiosity to play: why do animals play?
- Assistant Professor Sakumi Iki , 15th batch , Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior
- 2026/01/20 4:45pm
- Research Administration Building, Basement Floor (Conference Rooms 1&2)
- English
- Onsite and Zoom
The origins of play behavior remain a profound puzzle in animal evolution. Play is often characterized as a seemingly non-functional behavior that confers little survival or reproductive benefit. This characteristic makes the evolution of play appear paradoxical under Darwinian principles, which posit that traits must be beneficial to be selected. In this talk, drawing on Iki (2025, Biological Reviews), I propose a new hypothesis that early forms of play emerged as an evolutionary by-product of neuropsychological mechanisms associated with curiosity.