Kenneth Bruce Van Gross

Primal Neuroanthropology Kenneth Bruce Van Gross

Since the Primal Neuroanthropology of Sports hypothesis was born some twenty years ago, Neuroanthropology in general has evolved as a critical field in appreciating the human condition.

So the 2019 question of sports as a neuroanthropological entity has taken on new dimensions. In what way does it attest to our evolution in this highly complex world of games and sports? I would maintain we "hearken back" in some of the behaviors and automatic movements noted in sports. This indeed may have neuroanthropological signatures in our neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and neurochemistry. However, it has been our supremely developed cerebral cortices that constructed sports' forerunners and sports themselves with the implicit utilization of natural movements, postures, tendencies and habits.

At the same time, sports reflects neogenesis and neurodegeneration. It is the task of this volume to introduce some of that ideation which will hopefully allow for a great expansion of this athletic "field of dreams" we have integrated into human society as if it is air or sunlight.