Dance on the Brain: Enhancing Intra- and Inter-Brain Synchrony

Abstract

Dance has traditionally been viewed from a Eurocentric perspective as a mode of self-expression that involves the human body moving through space, performed for the purposes of art, and viewed by an audience. In this Hypothesis and Theory article, we synthesize findings from anthropology, sociology, psychology, dance pedagogy, and neuroscience to propose The Synchronicity Hypothesis of Dance, which states that humans dance to enhance both intra- and inter-brain synchrony. We outline a neurocentric definition of dance, which suggests that dance involves neurobehavioral processes in seven distinct areas including sensory, motor, cognitive, social, emotional, rhythmic, and creative. We explore The Synchronicity Hypothesis of Dance through several avenues. First, we examine evolutionary theories of dance, which suggest that dance drives interpersonal coordination. Second, we examine fundamental movement patterns, which emerge throughout development and are omnipresent across cultures of the world. Third, we examine how each of the seven neurobehaviors increases intra- and inter-brain synchrony. Fourth, we examine the neuroimaging literature on dance to identify the brain regions most involved in and affected by dance. The findings presented here support our hypothesis that we engage in dance for the purpose of intrinsic reward, which as a result of dance-induced increases in neural synchrony, leads to enhanced interpersonal coordination. This hypothesis suggests that dance may be helpful to repattern oscillatory activity, leading to clinical improvements in autism spectrum disorder and other disorders with oscillatory activity impairments. Finally, we offer suggestions for future directions and discuss the idea that our consciousness can be redefined not just as an individual process but as a shared experience that we can positively influence by dancing together.

The Neuroscience of Dance: A Systematic Review of the Present State of Research and Suggestions for Future Work

“…These abilities are of prime importance in social interactions and therefore in the formation and maintenance of social groups. This supports evolutionary theories of the importance of dance in enhancing "brain networks that support our ability to understand others, i.e., our interpersonal coordination skills" (Basso et al, 2021).…”

“…Karpati and colleagues published a review in 2015 (Karpati et al, 2015), but it was not intended to be comprehensive. Basso and colleagues' 2021 article (Basso et al, 2021) also contains useful material, but this is a "Hypothesis and Theory" article, and was not intended to provide a review of the neuroscience of dance.…”

Human Genomics and the Biocultural Origin of Music

“…One interesting example is reported by a recent publication by Wassiliwizky and colleagues, in which it is demonstrated that, although poetry can elicit strong emotional responses in an analogous way as those observed when listening to music, the role of the nucleus accumbens and the whole neural circuitry appears different [170]. Moreover, the sharing of symbolic meaning and rhythm among speech, music and dance may be even better disentangled through novel transdisciplinary studies [171,172].…”

Deep and Wide Transfer Learning with Kernel Matching for Pooling Data from Electroencephalography and Psychological Questionnaires

“…Motor imagery (MI) is related to the process of mentally generating a quasi-perceptual experience in the absence of any appropriate external stimuli [ 1 ]. MI practice promotes children’s motor learning and has been suggested to provide benefits in enhancing the musicality of untrained children [ 2 , 3 ], in evaluating the screen-time and cognitive development [ 4 ], and improving attentional focus and rehabilitation [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], among others. MI-based brain–computer interface (BCI) systems often entail electroencephalogram (EEG)-decoding because of their ease of use, safety, high portability, relatively low cost, and, most importantly, high temporal resolution [ 8 ].…”