In humans, there is a very interesting link between playfulness and creativity – something that has not been looked at in animals. Playful people are known for being very innovative. This link is perhaps most well known in the world of art where great composers such as Mozart or innovative painters such as Picasso were known for their playfulness. In science as well there are many cases of this link, for example, the physicist Richard Feynman who said he played at physics and therefore his work was fun. These people generally have the ability to bring together apparently unconnected bits of information to create a new solution to a problem. In the animal kingdom, within a species, there is a variation in how much individuals play. It would be interesting to see if the more playful ones are the innovators. For example, was “Imo” the first wild Japanese macaque observed washing her food more playful than her peers? And can inducing play increase creativity in animals? The mantra of my research group will now change slightly to “play hard and work hard” – not only will this make our lives more fun, but, hopefully, we will reap the benefits of increased creativity in our research. (Robert John Young)
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 03:21:24 +0000
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