Brincar na perspectiva psicoetológica: implicações para pesquisa e prática / Approche psycho-éthologique du jeu: de la recherche à la pratique / El juego desde una perspectiva psicoetológica: implicaciones para la investigación y la práctica / Psychoethological perspective on play: implications for research and practice

Este ensaio trata do brincar a partir da perspectiva psicoetológica e examina implicações para a pesquisa e a prática. Ao longo das últimas décadas, crianças vêm ganhando oportunidades de escolarização e atividades dirigidas por adultos, mas perdendo oportunidades de brincadeira livre autogerenciada. Isto é preocupante, considerando as indicações de modelos animais de que a brincadeira social autogerenciada é importante para o desenvolvimento do cérebro social e da capacidade de autorregulação de emoções. Este estudo representa um convite-justificativa para que as crianças recuperem oportunidades de brincadeira natural das quais vêm sendo privadas. Quanto mais conhecermos sobre o brincar, mais adequados seremos nas oportunidades que poderemos oferecer a elas. Precisamos de mais pesquisa sobre este tema na academia, num ambiente intelectual que facilite a colaboração entre etólogos, psicólogos, educadores e neurocientistas, promovendo interação bidirecional entre teoria e prática

Cet article se concentre sur le jeu dans la perspective psycho-éthologique et examine les implications pour la recherche et la pratique. Au cours des dernières décennies, les enfants reçoivent plus de possibilités d'éducation et activités dirigées par des adultes, mais souffrent d'un grave déficit de jeu autogéré. Cette situation est particulièrement préoccupante compte tenu des indications de modèles animaux que le jeu social autogéré est très important pour le développement du cerveau social et d'autorégulation émotionnelle. Ce texte est une invitation/justification pour promouvoir des occasions de jeu naturel pour les enfants. Plus on connaît les fondamentaux de jeu, le plus approprié seront les opportunités que nous pouvons offrir à nos enfants. Nous avons besoin de toute urgence davantage de recherches sur ce sujet, dans un environnement intellectuel qui facilitent les collaborations entre les éthologues, les psychologues, les éducateurs et les neuroscientifiques, et la promotion d'une interaction bidirectionnelle entre la théorie et la pratique

Este ensayo trata del juego desde el punto de vista psicoetológico y examina implicaciones para la investigación y la práctica. A lo largo de las últimas décadas, los niños han recibido oportunidades de escolarización y actividades dirigidas por adultos, pero han perdido oportunidades para el juego libre y autogestionado. Lo que resulta preocupante, teniendo en cuenta las sugerencias de los modelos animales de que el juego social autogestionado es importante para el desarrollo del cerebro social y de la capacidad de autorregulación emocional. Este artículo es una invitación/justificación para que los niños recuperen oportunidades para el juego natural del que han sido privados. Cuánto más sepamos acerca del juego, más éxito tendremos. Necesitamos más investigación sobre este tema en la academia, en un ambiente intelectual que facilite la colaboración entre los etólogos, psicólogos, educadores y neurocientíficos, para promover una interacción bidireccional entre la teoría y la práctica

This study focuses on play from a psychoethological perspective and examines the implications for research and practice. Over the past decades, children are provided with more educational opportunities and more access to adult-led activities, albeit suffering a severe lack of self-directed play. This fact is worrying when we consider the indications in animal models that self-directed play is important for the development of the social brain and emotional self-regulation. This essay represents an invitation-justification for children to recover opportunities for natural play, of which they have been deprived. The more we know about play, the more suitable the opportunities we can offer them will be. We need to conduct further research on this topic, in an intellectual environment that enables collaboration between ethologists, psychologists, educators, and neuroscientists, promoting a bidirectional interaction between theory and practice

Abnormal Activation of the Social Brain Network in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An fMRI Study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate abnormal findings of social brain network in Korean children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with typically developing children (TDC). METHODS: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed to examine brain activations during the processing of emotional faces (happy, fearful, and neutral) in 17 children with ASD, 24 TDC. RESULTS: When emotional face stimuli were given to children with ASD, various areas of the social brain relevant to social cognition showed reduced activation. Specifically, ASD children exhibited less activation in the right amygdala (AMY), right superior temporal sulcus (STS) and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) than TDC group when fearful faces were shown. Activation of left insular cortex and right IFG in response to happy faces was less in the ASD group. Similar findings were also found in left superior insular gyrus and right insula in case of neutral stimulation. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that children with ASD have different processing of social and emotional experience at the neural level. In other words, the deficit of social cognition in ASD could be explained by the deterioration of the capacity for visual analysis of emotional faces, the subsequent inner imitation through mirror neuron system (MNS), and the ability to transmit it to the limbic system and to process the transmitted emotion.