by David Kohn | photo by Toni Gauthier
Neuroscientists haven’t really explored how movement and thought interact, largely because it’s hard for anyone to leap, twist and turn while lying flat in an MRI tube, or connected to a tangle of wires. But with the help of new mobile brain imaging technology, a Maryland researcher now has the beginnings of an answer.
Karen Bradley, an associate professor in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, and University of Houston neuroscientist Jose Contreras-Vidal, formerly an associate professor of kinesiology at Maryland, analyzed dancers’ brain signals as they thought about dancing and as they performed. They wore lightweight wireless sensors on their scalps in order to move unimpeded. The study is featured in the April issue of the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
The researchers found that dancers use multiple parts of the brain simultaneously, including those involved in higher-order decision-making, as well as parts that play a role in controlling and planning movement. “This gives us a fantastic glimpse into how dancers think when they express themselves,” says Bradley.
Researchers place a brainwave measurement cap on one of the dancers participating in the study. Photo courtesy of Karen Bradley.
The study examined five experienced dancers who were asked to perform three activities: moving without a specific intention; thinking about dancing in a way that would convey a specific quality, such as lightness, or strength; and actually dancing in a way that would convey the particular quality. Bradley and Contreras-Vidal recorded the dancers’ brain activity during these three states, and found it was different in each case.
In the first state, moving without intention, the most active brain area was the sensory motor network, the regions in charge of “automatic” movements such as walking or talking, which typically require little or no conscious thought. In the second state, thinking about expressive dance, the most active regions were the prefrontal cortex and other areas involved in planning and decision-making. In the third state, both the thinking and the sensory-movement networks were active.
“I have never seen a study like this before. It’s a completely new approach,” says Klaus Gramann, a professor of biological psychology at the Berlin Institute of Technology. “It really highlights what we can do with mobile brain-body imaging. It was a very fruitful collaboration.”
One of the dancers moving as the scientists collect the data. Photo courtesy of Karen Bradley.
Gramann, a pioneer in the use of lightweight portable sensors to measure the brain, says the field has only been around for the past five or so years. Over that time, he says, neuroscientists have increasingly realized that movement has a profound effect on thought. “If we really want to understand how the brain works, we need to have subjects who move naturally,” he says. “Cognition is closely linked to movement and action.”
This is Bradley’s first work in neuroscience. She and Contreras-Vidal met in 2011, in a flamenco dance class, and realized they shared something besides a love of Spanish folk dancing. Both were deeply interested in understanding the complex links between movement, such as dance, and brain activity. They decided to collaborate on research, and continued to work together even after Contreras-Vidal was hired by the University of Houston.
Bradley has been dancing since the age of 8, and has worked as a professional dancer and choreographer. She’s now in charge of Maryland’s M.F.A. dance program, and also studies the history of dance. In addition, she works with a range of clients to improve their movement. She coaches business executives on speaking more effectively, and helps children with learning disabilities, teaching them physical strategies to improve their attention and focus.
Professor Karen Bradley.
“I’ve always been interested in how the body expresses emotions and ideas through movement,” she says.
Contreras-Vidal says the research sheds light on the broader question of how the brain turns electrical signals into movement. He’s now focusing most of his research on a different aspect of this issue: trying to design more effective neuro-prosthetics for people who are paralyzed or have lost limbs.
Both he and Bradley say their study shows how crucial thought is to dance. He says it could have implications for both dance and science. He suggested that it might be possible to create a performance in which the lighting and music adjust themselves in response to the brainwaves of the dancers. In addition, he says, it might eventually be possible to train dancers to better control their brain patterns, to help them express themselves in the most efficient and creative ways.
“It may be,” he says, “that being a top dancer might be connected to a particular brain pattern.”
Watch a dancer as she follows directions to express herself in a particular way.
23 Comments
ha ha…wait so…talking doesn’t require conscious thought. Interesting. no wonder we are all in trouble.
Actually, Jane, the article does not say anything about talking not being conscious. The article only says that movement expression is conscious.
Yes it does Karen. The fifth paragraph on moving without intention.
Actually, Karen, they do imply that talking is nonconscious activity in the paragraph when they say that the sensory motor network is in charge of automatic tasks such as “walking or talking.” Also, it was a joke.
As a dancer, thinking is not what the goal is. It’s more fluid that that.
Very interesting research. While considering how this can come back into performance is worthwhile I find the scientific validation of dancing as a highly integrated activity exciting. In one sense while dancers are released into intense kinesthetic experience, the mind is constantly monitoring and guiding each new move. That for me is the delight when I improvise – fully conscious and physically free in the moment. Does this contribute to bringing dance and all the arts back into education in a consistent holistic way – back tot he Greeks. Please keep me posted on further research.
Yes as a dancer the science I most identified with was the sensory part. Moving without intention. Just sensing your body in the space/in relation to the floor and the rest of your body. Then when asked to preform lightness/strength, the combination of sensory and higher order thinking. I do not know if this is just how the author wrote it but it is interesting to note there was no planning or decision making in that stage once the dance moves actually were happening. Just when, well during the planning part. I totally feel that as a dancer. I look forward to more exploration of this. Also practicing a piece on the piano and getting everything right, then one day sitting down with out the music. Your fingers just take over. It would be interesting to see this done with musicians in the practice/learning stage then the performance stage.
Also as a dancer, following Reed’s comment: We are always thinking, the question is what are we thinking about while dancing. Ideally, we are not thinking about the motor production, but something more global, such as qualities, phrasing or intentions. The theories around “external focus of attention” may be of use to understand how dancers move fluidly or not, and this research may give some concrete evidence to something that is usually felt more experientially.
Here is another aspect of dancing to which this new equipment could shed some light. Often, dance students imitate who ever is in front of them, but once alone, cannot do the choreography. My theory is that imitating and retrieving memorized movement are two different activities involving different part of the brain. To facilitate memorization, i beleive a teacher should not always demonstrate, but also give students some free time to memorize the movements on their own. It would be interesting to experiment the premises of that theory with hard evidence.
adding to my last comment and inspired by David Popalisky’s, it would be of interest to understand what parts of the brain are used while imitating, retrieving memorized movement or improvising, because they feel like different experiences.
My daughter has ADHD-PI (primarily inattentive). She is not medicated but we use various strategies to help her focus at school and at home. She’s a dancer (10) and when she’s on stage that kid is focused in a way that we NEVER see any other time! It would be interesting to see research applied to the epidemic of ADHD diagnosis. For us, more time dancing is a permanant strategy and now I have some science to back up my maternal intuit! Thank you!
My daughter has ADHD-PI too and she loves dance, playing guitar and singing! It’s only the non-creative things that don’t hold her attention. So we’ve done neurofeedback w/ her so that she can be focused and motivated to do other things as well as she does the arts! Highly recommend it!
I have ADHD and I have a passion for dancing like letting the music move you creatively. I am 36 male and dancing has given me unbelievable gifts and qualities and made my life fantastic like all encompassing. I am very very good at dancing just because its my passion so I end up in reality practicing all the time and I actually am of the opinion that my ADHD helps my dancing abilities because I am high energy and also I easily can go into like trance type state where I am completely in the now moment which I think other people tend to have difficulty with. I think dancing and ADHD are very suited together because of hyper focus and energy and also I think somehow are tuned to rhythms like I usually am figgiting a foot or something but if music comes on I will figgit my leg to the beat and always perfect timing. I HIGHLY recommend encouraging your daughter to make dancing part of her life, it will make her a very happy personality in life.
“Both he and Bradley say their study shows how crucial thought is to dance.” I have experienced how movement is crucial to learning for some people. I once tutored a third grader with reading challenges that improved when I had her move around as she practiced reading.
As I am about to become a literacy tutor for adults, I would like to know if there is research on the practice of teaching reading enhanced by dance. If some people require movement to learn, that could explain how traditional schooling has left many behind.
Very interesting research, thanks for sharing. I would really be keen to be involved in something like this in the UK. Please add me to your mailing list.
this is exciting! The correlation of choreography and neurology. The potential is enormous.
How about including the 4 essential movement patterns in the study? You can find more information at http://www.moves4greatness.com/betsy_wetzig.htm
Betsy Wetzig are co-creators of the ‘Psyche-Soma Dynamics program which includes coordination pattern training with play-based, depth-oriented experiential forms
Hi Karen, I am so glad to hear about this work. I was researching this work as part of my tenure research at WKU in 2000-2001 but then in 2002 I had to resign as I gave birth to my special needs daughter. It’s so wonderful to see actual results and “real” science connected to our dancing brains. As far back as the 80’s, I wanted to create a piece of choreography showcasing dancers with a sound track of their real thoughts while they were performing…..to be used as a humorous piece but I really wonder if some day that can happen in real time?? Thanks for sharing your work.
The experiment looks like it was performed without music…just the dancer moving to, I think I read, verbal cues. Is there any data on the dancer listening to music and dancing? I would be very fascinated to hear the results of that compared with the dancing without music.
BTW, I am a mechanical engineer (U of MD ’87) and a dancer, primarily improv., but always trying to manifest the music physically.
Love to hear more.
Jennifer
This is a very interesting approach to dancing. I used to believe there is not much thinking during dancing and that moves usually just flow one after another. http://epaksaglik.com/
Love this: “It may be,” he says, “that being a top dancer might be connected to a particular brain pattern.”
Every performer has to think about a lot of things at the same time to take a fast decision. Performers like dancer and magician think about the next septs that they are going to perform.
It was interesting when you said that dancers use multiple parts of the brain simultaneously. Lately I’ve been wanting to learn more about the arts. Your article made me excited to watch some dance films and pay attention to the performers!