The Impact of Soundtrack Congruency on the Aesthetic Experience of Contemporary Dance: Exploring Aesthetic Interaction in Terms of Arousal and Enjoyment Ratings in Three Audio Settings

Often music is used to emphasize particular dance gestures, or dance can be used to illustrate particular passages of music. While each form relies on different sensory modalities, previous studies have demonstrated the ability to deduce the common structures between music and dance, even when each form is presented independently. However, from an aesthetic perspective, music and dance are not always used congruently, to emphasize or complement each other, but are sometimes used in competition, or conflict with each other to emphasize the narrative (Fogelsanger & Afanador, 2006). With this deliberate shift in congruency between stimuli, this begs the questions as to whether congruence between stimuli enhances aesthetic judgements for contemporary pieces, in line with the congruence association model. This study aims to empirically test the assertions that altering the congruency between a contemporary dance and soundtrack leads to a different aesthetic perception of the presentation. Thirty-four participants, were randomly assigned to watch a recorded dance performance in a theatre setting, with either the original soundtrack, no soundtrack or the original soundtrack reversed. Aesthetic interaction was measured in terms of continuous enjoyment ratings using an ASUS tablet, and physiological arousal was measured using Empatica 4 wristbands. Granger Causality analysis indicated that rate of visual change of the stimulus granger caused electrodermal activity, for the congruent and incongruent sound conditions, but not for the silent condition. Group enjoyment scores did not mirror group physiological responses; in that they were not predicted by visual change of the performance. Additionally, the silent and congruent conditions were rated as less enjoyable as the incongruent condition. Qualitative data demonstrated that participants found the congruent and silent conditions boring, while they found the incongruent condition unpleasant

El escarpado camino hacia la legislación social: debates, contradicciones y crucijadas en el movimiento obrero y popular (Chile: 1901-1924).

<p>A. Overlayed time series for synchrony and enjoyment (top panel) and synchrony and heart rate (bottom panel). B: GC for synchrony and enjoyment. C. GC for synchrony and heart rate. The dashed line indicates a significance level of <i>p</i> < .05.</p

Recognition of dance-like actions: memory for static posture or dynamic movement?

Dance-like actions are complex visual stimuli involving multiple changes in body posture across time and space. Visual perception research has demonstrated a difference between the processing of dynamic body movement and the processing of static body posture. Yet, it is unclear whether this processing dissociation continues during the retention of body movement and body form in visual working memory (VWM). When observing a dance-like action, it is likely that static snapshot images of body posture will be retained alongside dynamic images of the complete motion. Therefore, we hypothesized that, as in perception, posture and movement would differ in VWM. Additionally, if body posture and body movement are separable in VWM, as form- and motion-based items, respectively, then differential interference from intervening form and motion tasks should occur during recognition. In two experiments, we examined these hypotheses. In Experiment 1, the recognition of postures and movements was tested in conditions in which the formats of the study and test stimuli matched (movement-study to movement-test, posture-study to posture-test) or mismatched (movement-study to posture-test, posture-study to movement-test). In Experiment 2, the recognition of postures and movements was compared after intervening form and motion tasks. These results indicated that (1) the recognition of body movement based only on posture is possible, but it is significantly poorer than recognition based on the entire movement stimulus, and (2) form-based interference does not impair memory for movements, although motion-based interference does. We concluded that, whereas static posture information is encoded during the observation of dance-like actions, body movement and body posture differ in VWM

Joint action aesthetics

Synchronized movement is a ubiquitous feature of dance and music performance. Much research into the evolutionary origins of these cultural practices has focused on why humans perform rather than watch or listen to dance and music. In this study, we show that movement synchrony among a group of performers predicts the aesthetic appreciation of live dance performances. We developed a choreography that continuously manipulated group synchronization using a defined movement vocabulary based on arm swinging, walking and running. The choreography was performed live to four audiences, as we continuously tracked the performers’ movements, and the spectators’ affective responses. We computed dynamic synchrony among performers using cross recurrence analysis of data from wrist accelerometers, and implicit measures of arousal from spectators’ heart rates. Additionally, a subset of spectators provided continuous ratings of enjoyment and perceived synchrony using tablet computers. Granger causality analyses demonstrate predictive relationships between synchrony, enjoyment ratings and spectator arousal, if audiences form a collectively consistent positive or negative aesthetic evaluation. Controlling for the influence of overall movement acceleration and visual change, we show that dance communicates group coordination via coupled movement dynamics among a group of performers. Our findings are in line with an evolutionary function of dance–and perhaps all performing arts–in transmitting social signals between groups of people. Human movement is the common denominator of dance, music and theatre. Acknowledging the time-sensitive and immediate nature of the performer-spectator relationship, our study makes a significant step towards an aesthetics of joint actions in the performing arts

Audiovisual aesthetics of sound and movement in contemporary dance

How do movement and sound combine to produce an audiovisual aesthetics of dance? We assessed how audiovisual congruency influences continuous aesthetic and psychophysiological responses to contemporary dance. Two groups of spectators watched a recorded dance performance that included the performer’s steps, breathing and vocalizations, but no music. Dance and sound were paired either as recorded or with the original soundtrack in reverse, so that the performers’ sounds were no longer coupled to their movements. A third group watched the dance video in silence. Audiovisual incongruency was rated as more enjoyable than congruent or silent conditions. In line with mainstream conceptions of dance as movement-to-music, arbitrary relationships between sound and movement were preferred to causal relationships, in which performers produce their own soundtrack. Performed synchrony granger- caused changes in electro-dermal activity only in the incongruent condition, consistent with “aesthetic capture”. Sound structures the perception of dance movement, increasing its aesthetic appeal

Posture-based processing in visual short-term memory for actions

Visual perception of human action involves both form and motion processing, which may rely on partially dissociable neural networks. If form and motion are dissociable during visual perception, then they may also be dissociable during their retention in visual short-term memory (VSTM). To elicit form-plus-motion and form-only processing of dance-like actions, individual action frames can be presented in the correct or incorrect order. The former appears coherent and should elicit action perception, engaging both form and motion pathways, whereas the latter appears incoherent and should elicit posture perception, engaging form pathways alone. It was hypothesized that, if form and motion are dissociable in VSTM, then recognition of static body posture should be better after viewing incoherent than after viewing coherent actions. However, as VSTM is capacity limited, posture-based encoding of actions may be ineffective with increased number of items or frames. Using a behavioural change detection task, recognition of a single test posture was significantly more likely after studying incoherent than after studying coherent stimuli. However, this effect only occurred for spans of two (but not three) items and for stimuli with five (but not nine) frames. As in perception, posture and motion are dissociable in VSTM

Self-compassion and Mental Health in Australian Women Who Have Experienced Pregnancy Loss

Mental health challenges are common during the perinatal period, particularly following pregnancy loss. This longitudinal study investigates the role of self-compassion in the mental health of perinatal women having previously experienced (n = 45) or not having experienced (n = 123) pregnancy loss. Archival data was utilised to compare levels of perinatal depression, psychological distress, and self-compassion for women receiving psychological therapy at session one and session six. Results indicated that both participant groups reported similar levels on all variables at baseline. There were significant increases in self-compassion and decreases in perinatal depression and psychological distress after six sessions of therapy for both groups. A regression showed changes in self-compassion following six sessions of therapy was predictive of psychological distress, particularly for women who reported pregnancy loss. Self-compassion may represent a viable intervention for psychological distress in a perinatal population particularly following pregnancy loss

Movement synchrony among dance performers predicts brain synchrony among dance spectators

Performing dance is an intrinsically social art form where at least one person moves while another person watches. Dancing in groups promotes social bonding, but how does group dance affect the people watching? In this study, we show that movement synchrony among dancers of a live performers predicts brain synchrony among dance viewers. Dancers and dance novices watched a video of a “Group Study” a choreography by Matthias Sperling in an fMRI scanner and continuously evaluated the performance after. Firstly, we computed cross-recurrence of continuous enjoyment ratings and inter-subject correlations (ISCs) in fMRI separately for both groups, and with the choreographer of the dance work. At both behavioural and neural levels, dancers responded more similarly to each other than novices. ISCs among dancers extend beyond brain areas involved in audio-visual integration and sensory areas of human movement perception into motor areas, suggesting kinaesthetic empathy in the expert group. Secondly, we show that dancers’ brain activations and continuous ratings are more similar to the choreographer’s ratings in keeping with sharing an aesthetic and artistic perspective when viewing the work. Thirdly, we show that movement synchrony among performers is the best predictor of brain synchrony among both dance and novice spectators. This is consistent with the idea that changes in emergent movement synchrony are a key aesthetic feature of performing dance. Finally, ISCs across perceptual and motor brain areas were primarily driven by movement acceleration and synchrony, whereas ISCs in orbital and pre-frontal brain areas were overall weaker and better explained by the continuous enjoyment ratings of each group. Our findings provide strong evidence that the aesthetic appreciation of dance involves experience sharing between the dance spectators and the choreographer, Moreover, experience sharing increases with shared knowledge of and practice in the artform that is being experienced

Recognition of dance-like actions : memory for static posture or dynamic movement?

Dance-like actions are complex visual stimuli involving multiple changes in body posture across time and space. Visual perception research has demonstrated a difference between the processing of dynamic body movement and the processing of static body posture. Yet, it is unclear whether this processing dissociation continues during the retention of body movement and body furm in visual working memmy (VWM). When observing a dance-like action, it is likely that static snapshot images ofbody posture will he retained alongside dynamic images of the complete motion. Therefore, we hypothesized that, as in perception, posture and movement would differ in VWM. Additionally, if body posture and body movement are separable in VWM, as fonn- and motion-based items, respectively, then diffurential interference from intetVening form and motion tasks should occur during recognition. In two experiments, we examined these hypotheses. In Experiment I, the recognition of postures and movements was tested in conditions in which the formats of the study and test stimuli matched (movement-study to movement-test, posture-study to posture-test) or mismatched (movement-study to posture-test, posture-study to movement-test). In Experiment 2, the recognition of postures and movements was compared after intervening form and motion tasks. These results indicated that (I) the recognition of body movement based only on posture is possible, but it is significantly poorer than recognition based on the entire movement stimulus, and (2) form-based interference does not impair memory fur movements, although motion-based interference does. We concluded that, whereas static posture information is encoded during the observation of dance-like actions, body movement and body posture differ in VWM

Exploring collective experience in watching dance through intersubject correlation and functional connectivity of fMRI brain activity

How the brain contends with naturalistic viewing conditions when it must cope with concurrent streams of diverse sensory inputs and internally generated thoughts is still largely an open question. In this study, we used fMRI to record brain activity while a group of 18 participants watched an edited dance duet accompanied by a soundtrack. After scanning, participants performed a short behavioral task to identify neural correlates of dance segments that could later be recalled. Intersubject correlation (ISC) analysis was used to identify the brain regions correlated among observers, and the results of this ISC map were used to define a set of regions for subsequent analysis of functional connectivity. The resulting network was found to be composed of eight subnetworks and the significance of these subnetworks is discussed. While most subnetworks could be explained by sensory and motor processes, two subnetworks appeared related more to complex cognition. These results inform our understanding of the neural basis of common experience in watching dance and open new directions for the study of complex cognition