ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of how evolution through natural selection shaped the human brain and human behavior. It discusses evolved psychological mechanisms (EPM) as general functions which have evolved in order to help humans solve problems in the world around them. The neurophysiological perspective seeks to complement traditional communication theories. The chapter explains the neurophysiological perspective as an entrance for communication scholars hoping to answer Tinbergen's four questions of human behavior as they relate to video game play. Scholars who are committed to a neurophysiological perspective of mass communication research develop theories of media use behavior by specifying "empirically observed relationships among variables, the neural substrates of those variables, and a sound explanation for those neural substrates". Researchers taking an evolutionary approach to gameplay must place it and its potential benefits within the context of the authors early hunter-gathering, small group ancestors.
