Abstract
Highlights • EEG Delta-band inter-brain synchrony tracks engagement with live/recorded dance • Dance artists can predict audience engagement and brain synchrony over time • Audience brain synchrony is highest when dancers directly interact with spectators • Alpha/Delta EEG power is reduced if people watch dance together rather than alone Evolutionary theories claim that dance and music have evolved as collective rituals for social bonding and signaling. Yet, neuroscientific studies of these art forms typically involve people watching video or sound recordings alone in a laboratory. Across three live performances of a dance choreography, we simultaneously measured real-time dynamics between the brains of up to 23 audience members using mobile wet-electrode EEG. Interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) in the delta band (1–4 Hz) was highest when performers directly interacted with audience members (breaking the fourth wall) and varied systematically with the dancers’ movements and artistically predicted and actual continuous engagement. In follow-up studies using video recordings of the performance, we show that audience brain synchrony and engagement are highest when dance is experienced live and together. Our study shows that the ancient social functions of the performing arts are preserved in engagement with contemporary dance.
Authors
Laura A. Rai, Haeeun Lee, Emma Becke, Carlos Trenado, Sonia Abad-Hernando , Matthias Sperling , Diego Vidaurre, Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann , Daniel C. Richardson, Jamie A. Ward, Guido Orgs
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112922