LECTURE 2 Sep 11, 2013
"Our Instinct for Dance" - Neurobiology and the Arts
Main Points:
-
Arts activities stimulate the sensory systems (particularly seeing, hearing, touching) and mirror neuron system (activates empathy) in order to allow us to perceive and react to ourselves, others and the world
-
Participating in the arts changes and strengthens the brain by enhancing our cognitive capacities (problem-solving, academic achievement and memory) and physical development (bilateral improvement, brain wave patterns)
-
The primitive “emotional” part of the brain (limbic system) responds to rhythm and stimulates movement, therefore giving us our instinct for dance
Video Links:
Dance to Help Problem-Solving
Associated Press. (2013, May 29). Fancy Footwork: Swing Dancing Engineers.
Photos:
Further Information:
Further Information:
Asbury C. and Rich B. (Ed). (2008). Learning, Arts, and the Brain: The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition. New York/Washington, DC: Dana Press. Retrieved from: http://www.dana.org/news/publications/publication.aspx?id=10760
Brown, S. & Parsons, L. M. (2008). The neuroscience of dance. Scientific American, 299, 78-83. doi :10.1038/scientificamerican0708-78