Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 1

Chapter Two what is play, and why do we do it? what is play? i hate to say

Answer 1

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 2

Engineers are professional skeptics.

Answer 2

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 3

PROPERTIES OF PLAY Apparently purposeless (done for its own sake) Voluntary Inherent attraction Freedom from time Diminished consciousness of self Improvisational potential Continuation desire

Answer 3

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 4

Scott Eberle, an intellectual historian of play and vice president for interpretation at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. Eberle feels that most people go through a six-step process as they play. While neither he nor I believe that every player goes through exactly these steps in this order,

Answer 4

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 5

Anticipation,

Answer 5

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 6

Surprise,

Answer 6

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 7

Pleasure,

Answer 7

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 8

Understanding,

Answer 8

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 9

Strength,

Answer 9

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 10

Poise,

Answer 10

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 11

Once we reach poise, we are ready to go to a new source of anticipation, starting the ride all over again.

Answer 11

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 12

Dutch historian Johan Huizinga offers another good definition of play. He describes it as “a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’ but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained from it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings which tend to surround themselves with secrecy.”

Answer 12

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 13

there is no way to really understand play without also remembering the feeling of play.

Answer 13

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 14

“In a world continuously presenting unique challenges and ambiguity, play prepares these bears for an evolving planet.”

Answer 14

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 15

They found that the bears that played the most were the ones who survived best. This is true despite the fact that playing takes away time, attention, and energy from activities like eating,

Answer 15

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 16

One major theory is that play is simply practice for skills needed in the future.

Answer 16

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 17

But it turns out that cats that are deprived of play-fighting can hunt just fine. What they can’t do—what they never learn to do—is to socialize successfully. Cats and other social mammals such as rats will, if seriously missing out on play, have an inability to clearly delineate friend from foe, miscue on social signaling, and either act excessively aggressive or retreat and not engage in more normal social patterns. In the give-and-take of mock combat, the cats are learning what Daniel Goleman calls emotional intelligence—the ability to perceive others’ emotional state, and to adopt an appropriate response.

Answer 17

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 18

the species with larger brains (compared with body size) played a lot and the species with smaller brains played less.

Answer 18

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 19

Play activity is actually helping sculpt the brain. In play, most of the time we are able to try out things without threatening our physical or emotional well-being. We are safe precisely because we are just playing.

Answer 19

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 20

Our adult imaginations are also continually active, predicting the future and examining the consequences of our behavior before it takes place.

Answer 20

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 21

The genius of play is that, in playing, we create imaginative new cognitive combinations. And in creating those novel combinations, we find what works.

Answer 21

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 22

The secret to brain growth for the rats in the original experiments was that they played with an ever-changing variety of rat “toys” and socialized with other rats.

Answer 22

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 23

“The combination of toys and friends was established early on as vital to qualifying the environment as ‘enriched,’”

Answer 23

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 24

Merely changing the surroundings or offering varied challenges was not enough to get dramatic brain development,

Answer 24

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 25

This solitary, nonplay activity resulted in neural growth in only one area of the brain, as opposed to the whole-brain growth that play provided.

Answer 25

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 26

Sleep and dreams appear to be organizers of higher brain function.

Answer 26

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 27

Studies have shown that people remember things better if they have a good night of sleep after learning something. We know that REM sleep is most frequent during the periods of most rapid brain development, and the theory is that, during development, sleep and dreams probably contribute to this testing and strengthening of brain circuits.

Answer 27

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 28

Play also promotes the creation of new connections that didn’t exist before, new connections between neurons and between disparate brain centers.

Answer 28

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 29

I find it exciting to see parallels between these two major behaviors—sleep and play. It’s reasonable to see them both as essential long-term organizers of brain development and adaptability.

Answer 29

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 30

There is laboratory evidence that there is a play deficit much like the well-documented sleep deficit. And just as a sleep deficit generates a need for extra “rebound” sleep to catch up, laboratory research shows that animals that are deprived of play will engage in “rebound” play when allowed to do so again.

Answer 30

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 31

Hindu tradition formalizes play as the ultimate creative source of reality. Lila (Sanskrit) is a concept meaning “pastime,” “sport,” or “play.” Lila is a way of describing all reality, including the cosmos, as the outcome of creative play by the divine absolute.

Answer 31

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 32

Chapter Three we are built for play

Answer 32

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 33

the sea squirt digests its own brain. Without a need to explore or find its sustenance, the creature devours its own cerebral ganglia.

Answer 33

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 34

The sea squirt is an example of a basic principle of nature: Use it or lose it. If a capability is not being used, it becomes an extravagance that is jettisoned or fades away. Either we grow and develop or we waste away.

Answer 34

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 35

Play creates new neural connections and tests them. It creates an arena for social interaction and learning. It creates a low-risk format for finding and developing innate skills and talents.

Answer 35

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 36

The great benefits of play, as I’ve said, are the ability to become smarter, to learn more about the world than genes alone could ever teach, to adapt to a changing world. These benefits are most effective as the brain is growing most rapidly, during the juvenile period. Once this period ends and development slows, for some animals the costs begin to outweigh the benefits.

Answer 36

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 37

Along with our opposable thumbs and massive prefrontal cortex, a singular characteristic of humans is that we stretch our juvenile period out longer than any other creature.

Answer 37

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 38

Dogs are displaying an adaptive pattern called neoteny (from the Greek for “stretch” or “extend”), which describes the stretching of juvenile periods and sometimes the retention of juvenile characteristics into adulthood. This is a major theme in evolution. Since early development is a time when the nervous system is most “plastic,” an advantage that neoteny bestows is extended openness to change, and sustained curiosity, as well as the ability to readily incorporate new information. A seasoned alpha wolf may be a premier hunter but will inevitably remain bound by narrower and more compulsive behaviors than a domestic dog.

Answer 38

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 39

Like retrievers, humans are the youthful primates. We are the Labradors of the primate world.

Answer 39

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 40

This quality of retained “immaturity” goes deeper than our round faces and essentially hairless bodies. The nervous system of adult chimps, if damaged, has less room for repair. We, on the other hand, have much more capacity for new neuron growth, a characteristic of being forever young.

Answer 40

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 41

Of all animals, humans are the biggest players of all. We have stretched the juvenile development program to a minimum fifteen years.

Answer 41

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 42

Play is a state of mind, rather than an activity.

Answer 42

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 43

We have to put ourselves in the proper emotional state in order to play

Answer 43

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 44

This “belonging” is an outgrowth of early social play among kids. Getting in sync with local groups of kids, and being able to follow that lead into more complex communal groups is a necessary ingredient for cohesive community life when conflicts and differences of style and opinion must be hammered out.

Answer 44

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 45

“It’s a game. It’s a big, fun, silly, but profoundly moving, human game.”

Answer 45

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 46

I’ve observed that people have a dominant mode of play that falls into one of eight types. I call these play personalities.

Answer 46

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 47

The Joker

Answer 47

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 48

A joker’s play always revolves around some kind of nonsense.

Answer 48

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 49

The Kinesthete Kinesthetes are people who like to move, who—in the words of Sir Ken Robinson—“need to move in order to think.” This category includes athletes,

Answer 49

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 50

While kinesthetes may play games, competition is not the main focus—it is only a forum for engaging in their favorite activity.

Answer 50

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 51

The Explorer Each of us started our lives by exploring the world around us. Some people never lose their enthusiasm for it. Exploration becomes their preferred avenue into the alternative universe of play—their way of remaining creative and provoking the imagination.

Answer 51

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 52

The Competitor The competitor is a person who breaks through into the euphoria and creativity of play by enjoying a competitive game with specific rules, and enjoys playing to win.

Answer 52

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 53

The Director Directors enjoy planning and executing scenes and events.

Answer 53

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 54

They are born organizers.

Answer 54

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 55

The Collector

Answer 55

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 56

the collector is to have and to hold the most, the best, the most interesting collection of objects or experiences.

Answer 56

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 57

The Artist/Creator For the artist/creator, joy is found in making things.

Answer 57

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 58

The Storyteller For the storyteller, the imagination is the key to the kingdom of play. Storytellers are, of course, novelists, playwrights, cartoonists, and screenwriters, but they are also those whose greatest joy is reading those novels and watching those movies, people who make themselves part of the story, who experience the thoughts and emotions of characters in the story.

Answer 58

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 59

If we let the play drive express itself well into adulthood, as we are built to do, we find opportunities to play everywhere. The brain keeps developing, adapting, learning about the world, and finding new ways to enjoy it. Many studies have demonstrated that people who continue to play games, who continue to explore and learn throughout life, are not only much less prone to dementia and other neurological problems, but are also less likely to get heart disease and other afflictions that seem like they have nothing to do with the brain.

Answer 59

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 60

When we stop playing, we stop developing, and when that happens, the laws of entropy take over—things fall apart. Ultimately, we share the fate of the sea squirt and become vegetative, staying in one spot, not fully interacting with the world, more plant than animal. When we stop playing, we start dying.

Answer 60

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 61

Part Two living the playful life Chapter Four parenthood is child’s play

Answer 61

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 62

studies of the Dutch “hunger winter” during World War II demonstrate that your IQ, your risk of heart disease, and other health problems are influenced by how well your grandmother ate during the third trimester of her pregnancy with your mother. Researchers have also shown that fetal movements—the kicking, punching, or writhing—can also be thought of as an expression of a play program.

Answer 62

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 63

“attunement.” Their brain rhythms are getting in tune, performing a kind of mind-meld that is a very pure form of intimacy.

Answer 63

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 64

attunement (also called “bonding”) is critical for later emotional self-regulation. Abused children who never adequately experience this end up being extremely emotionally brittle and behave erratically.

Answer 64

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 65

Body and Movement Play

Answer 65

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 66

when someone is having a hard time getting into a play state, I have them do something that involves movement:

Answer 66

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 67

the periods of greatest play were also the time of most rapid growth of the area of the brain known as the cerebellum.

Answer 67

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 68

Object Play

Answer 68

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 69

Imaginative Play

Answer 69

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 70

Throughout life, imagination remains a key to emotional resilience and creativity.

Answer 70

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 71

Social Play

Answer 71

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 72

subtypes of social play: friendship and belonging, rough-and-tumble play, and celebratory and ritual play.

Answer 72

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 73

A critical function of the dominant left hemisphere of the brain is to continually make up stories about why things are the way they are, which becomes our understanding of the world.

Answer 73

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 74

When we engage in fantasy play at any age, we bend the reality of our ordinary lives, and in the process germinate new ideas and ways of being.

Answer 74

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 75

overcontrol by Charlie’s father and the unending abuse directed at Charlie’s mother had been major factors in the development of behavioral problems that ultimately led to what became known in the media as the Texas Tower Massacre.

Answer 75

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 76

Jaak Panksepp suggests that depriving young animals of play might delay or disrupt brain maturation.

Answer 76

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 77

Without play, Panksepp suggests, optimal learning, normal social functioning, self-control, and other executive functions may not mature properly.

Answer 77

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 78

Play isn’t the enemy of learning, it’s learning’s partner. Play is like fertilizer for brain growth. It’s crazy not to use it.

Answer 78

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 79

“Play just lights everything up” in the brains of rats at play.

Answer 79

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 80

He speculates that by strengthening connections between brain areas that might be weakly connected previously, play enhances the retention of knowledge.

Answer 80

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 81

Authentic play comes from deep down inside us. It’s not formed or motivated solely by others.

Answer 81

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 82

Certainly, parents and mentors are pivotal, but the self that emerges through play is the core, authentic self.

Answer 82

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 83

Nature’s design for play is just too strong to be pushed aside completely. They will find their own new ways of asserting their own community, socialization patterns, and individuality. One journalist recently wrote about driving his kids and their friends from one activity to another, when he noticed a strange giggling among the group in back. Upon further inquiry, he discovered that they were all texting one another on their cell phones so that they could “speak” frankly, but secretly, in the presence of the adult. They were creating their own private play zone where they could socialize freely.

Answer 83

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 84

“sophomore,” which literally means “wise-foolish.” In adolescence, kids are pulled in opposite, incompatible directions. They are torn apart. Adolescents are expected to take on adult responsibilities and yet not given adult privileges.

Answer 84

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 85

Neuroscientists have shown that during puberty, a whole new set of brain genes that have been silent since birth turn on, creating a flowering of new neural growth and pruning of the cortical neuronal trees at a level unmatched since our early development in the womb. As the neural tangle works itself out, kids can see the world in unique and surprising ways. Studies have demonstrated that adolescents who are shown pictures of various facial expressions will often make very odd (and wrong) inferences about the emotions the people in the picture are feeling. Because of these odd perceptions of everyday stimuli, teens in some ways are living in a different reality from the rest of us. And it doesn’t just happen during the teens. This brain growth continues well into the twenties. This is especially significant as our society extends adolescence out beyond the traditional high school years.

Answer 85

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 86

Spark, John Ratey

Answer 86

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 87

Joseph Meeker’s The Comedy of Survival, as a prime text for orienting adolescents (and adults) to a nonidealized world.

Answer 87

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 88

emotion-laden choices, not cognitively laid-out ten-year plans.

Answer 88

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 89

In mythology, the returning hero not only comes back more mature and stronger, but also brings something new that is beneficial to the community.

Answer 89

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 90

For all of us, “entering the forest where there is no path” and discovering our own path is an essential part of the transformative experience.

Answer 90

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 91

So much of parenthood is just getting by, making sure the meals are balanced and the schoolwork is done, trying to teach responsibility and generosity, right and wrong. But there are times when we pass on knowledge about what really matters in life, about how to look someone in the eye and shake their hands with confidence, about how to have vision, set goals clearly, and have the discipline to attain them. As we adults tell kids these things, we sometimes get a glimpse of our own best selves and how we might live our own lives better. Part of the joy and pain of being a parent is seeing our own parents in ourselves, seeing their good parts and flaws repeated in our voices. The joys and pains also come from seeing ourselves in our kids,

Answer 91

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 92

Chapter Five the opposite of play is not work

Answer 92

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 93

the opposite of play is not work—the opposite of play is depression.

Answer 93

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 94

The quality that work and play have in common is creativity.

Answer 94

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 95

Play is nature’s greatest tool for creating new neural networks and for reconciling cognitive difficulties. The abilities to make new patterns, find the unusual among the common, and spark curiosity and alert observation are all fostered by being in a state of play. When we play, dilemmas and challenges will naturally filter through the unconscious mind and work themselves out. It is not at all uncommon for people to come back not only reenergized, but also with fresh ideas for work.

Answer 95

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 96

As with many things in life, often the problem is not the problem, the problem is how you react to the problem.

Answer 96

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 97

When one CEO whom I know gathered employees in the company auditorium to talk about a recent bad quarter, he himself took the blame for the company’s performance. He then told the employees that under every seat was a toy dart gun with foam darts, and invited them all to take a shot at him. The air filled with flying yellow projectiles, and the atmosphere of the meeting was completely transformed.

Answer 97

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 98

The paradox is that a little distance from a problem, a sense of perspective, a realization that it really matters little in the end if people choose Huggies over Pampers for their kids, can be one of the most important factors in success.

Answer 98

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 99

We talk about working together as a team, but it might be more beneficial and productive to talk about people playing together as a team. When people graduate from working as a team to playing as a team, they will really allow themselves to compete fully and with gusto against other teams inside and outside the company.

Answer 99

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 100

I would say that necessity only sets the stage for invention and innovation. Play is the mother of invention.

Answer 100

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 101

When brainstorming is going well, it is also play.

Answer 101

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 102

On an individual level, your creativity also needs to be protected, not only from outside critics, but also from your own internal critic. Allow yourself to be abundant in your creativity, at first not making judgments about what you think, feel, or do.

Answer 102

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 103

Most often, new discoveries and new learning come when one is open to serendipity, when one welcomes novelties and anomalies, and then tries to incorporate those outlying results into the broader field of knowledge.

Answer 103

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 104

“The great performers perform as they do, and do so with such grace, because they love what they are doing,” Hogan observes. “It’s not work. It’s play.”

Answer 104

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 105

The work we do has to be the same way. Part of virtually any job has the possibility to be as enjoyable, as enthralling and creative as when we were kids building sand castles on the beach or flying a kite we created out of sticks, newspaper, and string. The joy has to find its way to us, and us to it.

Answer 105

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 106

Most of the time, we have so internalized society’s messages about play being a waste of time that we shame ourselves into giving up play.

Answer 106

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 107

physical activity—movement of any sort—has a way of getting past our mental defenses.

Answer 107

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 108

Even a short walk can lift the spirits. The body remembers what the mind has forgotten.

Answer 108

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 109

Playing with pets or children also allows us to get past those same, self-censoring impulses that make it so difficult to allow ourselves to play.

Answer 109

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 110

To really regain play in your life you will need to take a journey back into the past to help create avenues for play that work for you in the present.

Answer 110

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 111

If you make the emotion of play your North Star, you will find a true and successful course through life,

Answer 111

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 112

As James Michener wrote in his autobiography: The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he’s always doing both.

Answer 112

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 113

Chapter Six playing together

Answer 113

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 114

Those who played together, stayed together. Those who didn’t either split or, worse yet, simply endured an unhappy and dysfunctional relationship.

Answer 114

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 115

I would claim that sustained emotional intimacy is impossible without play.

Answer 115

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 116

Play modulates deep psychological fears and insecurities that threaten emotional closeness.

Answer 116

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 117

Jokes are the minimally invasive surgery of a relationship: they penetrate to a deep emotional level without leaving an entry wound.

Answer 117

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 118

Play is the lubrication that allows human society to work and individuals to be close to each other.

Answer 118

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 119

there are three separate brain systems involved in sexually oriented love: erotic love, romantic love, and attachment.

Answer 119

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 120

Erotic love (what is called “lust”) is the result of the sex drive. It is very nonspecific—we can feel drawn to anyone who is our “type”—and

Answer 120

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 121

romantic love as being much more specific. In romantic love, we are intensely drawn to one person.

Answer 121

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 122

attachment: the companionate comfort and connection that we feel with someone after the fusion-frenzy of lust, the idealization, and intensity of romantic love have faded. She hypothesizes that attachment has evolved to keep us with a partner long enough to raise children.

Answer 122

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 123

these three types of love are independent of each other.

Answer 123

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 124

when putting people in love into the imaging machine was that the areas of the brain that lit up were the same as those that light up in people on cocaine.

Answer 124

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 125

the word “passion” comes from the Latin word for “suffer.”

Answer 125

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 126

couples that made a point of doing things that were new and unfamiliar had a much higher satisfaction measure than the couples who spent time doing familiar things.

Answer 126

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 127

Chapter Seven does play have a dark side?

Answer 127

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 128

Bekoff describes play signaling in animals as the basis of social trust,

Answer 128

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 129

surgical residents who played video games were much more accurate and faster with the arthroscopic tools used in minimally invasive surgery.

Answer 129

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 130

the television comes on and play stops. Interaction is no more. The story line is set by the box, and the kids are now merely along for the ride, motionless and mute. Single-player video games are similarly attention hogs and socially isolating.

Answer 130

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 131

The hand and the brain need each other—the hand provides the means for interacting with the world and the brain provides the method. Neurologically, “a hand is always in search of a brain and a brain is in search of a hand,” as Wilson likes to say.

Answer 131

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 132

Seems as if we are programmed to “see” more comprehensively in natural settings.

Answer 132

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 133

Play also activates reward circuits because it is a beneficial activity. As with endorphins, there are natural regulatory circuits that limit how much play we will engage in. Adults who are healthy and psychologically well balanced will enjoy playing, but after a while they will grow tired of whatever game they are playing and do something else. People who are using the games to escape some other psychic pain, however, will not stop playing. If they do, their pain and anxiety will come rushing back. The arousal and pleasure that provide this escape can therefore become addictive, with disastrous physical, social, emotional, and cognitive results.

Answer 133

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 134

I think that we adults are too quick to step in to stop such play. We see the potential for small hurts,

Answer 134

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 135

teasing allows people to go to the edge and just beyond, saying things that may or may not be hurtful if said straight out, offering all parties an escape if they have gone too far. Such teasing is a learned-through-play social skill, with culturally understood boundaries. If the intent is to enlighten or just have fun, teasing and joke-making are great elements of social bonding. If the underlying motive is to put down or humiliate the recipient, it’s not healthy.

Answer 135

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 136

Play, by its very nature, is a little anarchic. It is about stepping outside of normal life and breaking normal patterns. It is about bending rules of thought, action, and behavior.

Answer 136

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 137

Chapter Eight a world at play

Answer 137

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 138

nations may well rise or fall on the basis of their ability to honor our evolutionary prerogative to play. Why do I say this? Three reasons: social, economic, and personal.

Answer 138

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 139

Play sets the stage for cooperative socialization. It nourishes the roots of trust, empathy, caring, and sharing.

Answer 139

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 140

Play lowers the level of violence in a society and increases communication.

Answer 140

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 141

Play shows us our common humanity.

Answer 141

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 142

For me, a fulfilling life is one in which we live and grow in accord with our true, core selves, in harmony with our world.

Answer 142

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 143

When we get play right, all areas of our lives go better. When we ignore play, we start having problems.

Answer 143

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 144

What he believed was that people should find the path in life that fuels their spirit, that speaks to them on the deepest level. But Campbell also showed that this path is sometimes hard. “If your bliss is just fun and excitement, then you are on the wrong path,” he would say. “Sometimes pain is bliss.”

Answer 144

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 145

ONE OF THE HARDEST things to teach kids is how to make it past difficulty or perceived boredom to find the

Answer 145

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 146

Making all of life an act of play occurs when we recognize and accept that there may be some discomfort in play, and that every experience has both pleasure and pain. That is not to say that bliss is suffering. My take is that following your bliss may be difficult, demanding, uncomfortable, tedious at times, but not really suffering.

Answer 146

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 147

1. Take your play history The primary purpose of the play history is to get us back in touch with the joy that we have all experienced at some point in our lives.

Answer 147

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 148

When have you felt free to do and be what you choose? Is that a part of your life now? If not, why not? What do you feel stands in the way of your achieving some times of personal freedom? Are you now able to feel that what engages you most fully is almost effortless? If not, can you recall when you were able to experience such times? Describe. Imagine settings that allow that sort of engagement. Search your memory for those times in your life when you have been at your very best. (These are usually authentic play times, and give clues as to where to go for current play experiences.) What have been the impediments to play in your life? How and why did some kinds of play disappear from your repertoire? Have you discovered ways of reinitiating lost play that work for you now in your life? Are you able to imagine and feel that the things you most desire and enjoy are really the things that you ought to have? Why so, or why not? How free are you now as you play with your spouse or your family? Or do you treat them as an extension of a dutiful responsibility?

Answer 148

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 149

2. Expose yourself to play Every day, everywhere, there are opportunities to find play:

Answer 149

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 150

3. Give yourself permission to be playful, to be a beginner Probably the biggest roadblock to play for adults is the worry that they will look silly, undignified, or dumb if they allow themselves to truly play.

Answer 150

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 151

“It sucks being a beginner again,” he told me. “But unless you are willing to do that, unless you can let yourself feel okay about going through the awkward stage, you can’t grow. You’ll always be stuck in the past.”

Answer 151

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 152

4. Fun is your North Star, but you don’t always have to head north

Answer 152

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 153

5. Be active One of the quickest ways to jump-start play is to do something physical. Just move.

Answer 153

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 154

6. Free yourself of fear Fear and play cannot go together.

Answer 154

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 155

7. Nourish your mode of play, and be with people who nourish it, too Practice play. Understand what type of player you are and find ways to engage in your play. It won’t happen automatically.

Answer 155

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 156

They found that comedy and play are a universal language, accessible to all ages in all cultures. It was clear by the end of the day that all had touched one another’s hearts.

Answer 156

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan

Question 157

Play is how we are made, how we develop and adjust to change. It can foster innovation and lead to multibillion-dollar fortunes. But in the end the most significant aspect of play is that it allows us to express our joy and connect most deeply with the best in ourselves, and in others. If your life has become barren, play brings it to life again. Yes, as Freud said, life is about love and work. Yet play transcends these, infuses them with liveliness and stills time’s arrow. Play is the purest expression of love. When enough people raise play to the status it deserves in our lives, we will find the world a better place.

Answer 157

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaughan