Fun - Analysis

Analysis

It has been suggested that games, toys, and activities perceived as fun are often challenging in some way. When a person is challenged to think consciously, overcome challenge and learn something new, they are more likely to enjoy a new experience and view it as fun. A change from routine activities appears to be at the core of this perception, since people spend much of a typical day engaged in activities that are routine and require limited conscious thinking. Routine information is processed by the brain as a "chunked pattern": "We rarely look at the real world", according to author Raph Coster, "we instead recognize something we have chunked, and leave it at that. One might argue that the essence of much of art is in forcing us to see things as they really are rather than as we assume them to be".

Some scientists have identified areas of the brain associated with the perception of novelty, that are stimulated when faced with "unusual or surprising circumstances". Information is initially received in the hippocampus, the site of long-term memory, where the brain attempts to match the new information with recognizable patterns stored in long-term memory. When it is unable to do this, the brain releases dopamine, a chemical which stimulates the amygdala, the site of emotion, and creates a pleasurable feeling that is associated with the new memory. In other words, fun is created by stimulating the brain with novelty.