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About the Power of Play Reading Passage
"The Power of Play" comes from Cambridge IELTS 13, Academic Test 4, Passage 2. The passage examines how play shapes the development of children and young animals. It references research by scientists including Stuart Brown, Jaak Panksepp, Bob Fagen, and Sergio Pellis to explore how play builds physical coordination, emotional regulation, and social skills.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–14, which are based on the passage below.
The passage contains three question types: True/False/Not Given (Questions 1–7), Matching Features (Questions 8–11), and Sentence Completion (Questions 12–14).
The Power of Play : Full Reading Passage
Paragraph A
It's obvious that children love to play. They also learn from it a fact recognized by educationists. Play helps children develop the cognitive, physical, and social skills they'll need as adults. But research now suggests play is even more important than previously thought, particularly for the development of the brain.
Paragraph B
Research by neuroscientist Sergio Pellis at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, reveals that play causes changes in the brain's prefrontal cortex,, an area critical for social behaviour, decision making, and self-control. The more animals play, the more their brains change. Play is especially important in early life when the brain is most flexible. According to Pellis, active play specifically promotes physical development.
Paragraph C
Jaak Panksepp, a neuroscientist at Washington State University, has spent decades studying the brain mechanisms behind emotional behaviour and play. He argues that play is "a primary process" something the brain is built to do. Panksepp identified seven primary emotional systems in the brain, one of which is PLAY. He observed that young rats deprived of play became unable to read social signals from other rats and struggled with appropriate social interaction.
Paragraph D
Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and clinical researcher who founded the National Institute for Play, began studying play after investigating a mass murderer in Texas in the 1960s. He found that the killer had been denied normal play experiences as a child. Brown went on to interview more than 6,000 people and found that a lack of play in childhood was consistently linked to poor mental health. He concludes that play is not optional it is a biological necessity.
Paragraph E
Bob Fagen, an animal behaviourist at the University of Alaska, has spent 15 years studying play in grizzly bears. He discovered that bears that played the most lived the longest. He found this result puzzling, since play uses valuable energy and carries physical risk. Fagen suggested that the answer lies in the fact that play builds complex and flexible skills. The most playful bears, he argued, became the best foragers and the most capable survivors.
Paragraph F
Play also helps children learn to manage their emotions. When children engage in rough-and-tumble play, they experience frustration, conflict, and negotiation and learn how to regulate their emotional responses. This is crucial for healthy social development. Panksepp's work supports this idea: in his rat studies, animals that played more showed better ability to control their emotional reactions.
Paragraph G
Sergio Pellis has also studied what happens when juvenile rats are prevented from playing with peers. These animals, when placed in a normal social environment as adults, exhibited excessive fear and were unable to interact appropriately. Pellis concludes that play during childhood helps the brain to rehearse the social responses it will need in adult life. Without that practice, adults are less able to judge social situations correctly.
Paragraph H
Given all this evidence, experts in child development now argue that free, unstructured play should be protected in schools and not crowded out by academic pressure or screen time. Play teaches children to cooperate, negotiate, and share core social skills that formal education alone cannot replicate. The lesson from neuroscience is clear: play is not a break from learning. It is, for the developing brain, the most important kind of learning there is.
The Power of Play Reading Questions and Answers
Questions 1–7 : True/False/Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage? Write:
- TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
- FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
- NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
1. Play has long been considered important by people who work in education.
2. Sergio Pellis found that play causes changes in the part of the brain that controls movement.
3. Jaak Panksepp thinks that play is essential for all mammals, not just rats.
4. Stuart Brown began his research into play following an investigation into a violent crime.
5. Bob Fagen was not surprised by the connection he found between play and survival in bears.
6. Children who play more are better at managing their feelings in difficult situations.
7. Some schools have recently increased the amount of time children spend in free play.
Questions 8–11 : Matching Features
Look at the following statements and the list of researchers below. Match each statement with the correct researcher, A–D.
List of Researchers:
- A — Bob Fagen
- B — Jaak Panksepp
- C — Stuart Brown
- D — Sergio Pellis
8. He found that animals without play experience struggled to respond correctly to social signals.
9. He interviewed thousands of people to investigate the long-term effects of childhood play.
10. He studied the relationship between playful behaviour and survival in a large mammal.
11. He showed that animals denied play in youth displayed abnormal fear as adults.
Questions 12–14 : Sentence Completion
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
12. According to Sergio Pellis, active play specifically promotes __________ development.
13. Panksepp's research shows that animals that played more were better at controlling their __________.
14. Experts in child development argue that play teaches children cooperation, negotiation, and __________.
