Theatre and cognitive neuroscience

281 Pages·2017·1.825 MB·English

by  Clelia Falletti (Editor), Gabriele Sofia (Editor), Victor Jacono (Editor)

Theatre and
Cognitive
Neuroscience
i
Performance and Science: Interdisciplinary Dialogues explores the
interactions between science and performance, providing readers
with a unique guide to current practices and research in this fast-
expanding fi eld. Through shared themes and case studies, the series
offers rigorous vocabularies and methods for empirical studies of
performance, with each volume involving collaboration between
performance scholars, practitioners and scientists. The series
encompasses the modalities of performance to include drama, dance
and music.
SERIES EDITORS
John Lutterbie
Chair of the Departments of Art and of Theatre Arts at Stony
Brook University, U SA
Nicola Shaughnessy
Professor of Performance at the University of Kent, U K

IN THE SAME SERIES
Affective Performance and Cognitive Science
edited by Nicola Shaughnessy
ISBN 978-1-4081-8398-4

Performance and the Medical Body
edited by Alex Mermikides and Gianna Bouchard
ISBN 978-1-4725-7078-9

Theatre, Performance and Cognition:
Languages, Bodies and Ecologies
edited by Rhonda Blair and Amy Cook
IBSN 978-1-4725-9179-1
ii
Theatre and
Cognitive
Neuroscience
E dited by
Clelia Falletti, Gabriele Sofi a
and Victor Jacono
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
LONDON • OXFORD • NEW YORK • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY
iii
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint previously known as Methuen Drama
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London New York
W C 1B 3D P NY 10018
UK USA
www.bloomsbury.com
BLOOMSBURY, METHUEN DRAMA and the Diana logo are trademarks of
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2016
© Clelia Falletti, Gabriele Sofi a and Victor Jacono and contributors, 2016
Clelia Falletti, Gabriele Sofi a and Victor Jacono have asserted their right under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as authors of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or
refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be
accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-i n-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN : HB : 978-1-4725-8478-6
e PDF : 978-1-4725-8480-9
ePub: 978-1-4725-8479-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

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To those who live at the crossroads
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
List of Contributors xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Preface Clelia Falletti, Gabriele Sofi a and Victor Jacono xiv
PART ONE THEATRE AS A SPACE OF
RELATIONSHIPS: A NEUROCOGNITIVE
PERSPECTIVE
Introduction: The Shared Space of Action
Clelia Falletti 3
1 The ‘Mirror Mechanism’ and Motor Behaviour
Maria Alessandra Umiltà 15
2 Body Presence and Extra-personal Space Perception
Giorgia Committeri and Chiara Fini 23
3 The Circus Actor: Towards a Cognitive Approach
Philippe Goudard 35
PART TWO THE SPECTATOR’S PERFORMATIVE
EXPERIENCE AND ‘EMBODIED THEATROLOGY’
Introduction: Towards an Embodied Theatrology?
Gabriele Sofi a 49
4 Body and Corporeity in the Theatre: From Semiotics
to Neuroscience. A Small Multidisciplinary Glossary
Marco De Marinis 61
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viii CONTENTS
5 Audiences’ Experience of Proximity and
Co- presence in Live Dance Performance
Corinne Jola and Matthew Reason 75
6 Theatre and Science: Refl ections on Theatrical Effi cacy
in Antonin Artaud L orraine Dumenil 93
PART THREE THE COMPLEXITY OF THEATRE
AND HUMAN COGNITION
Introduction: Complexity, Cognition, and the Actor’s
Pedagogy Victor Jacono 103
7 A Rope Over an Abyss J ohn J. Schranz 117
8 The Actor’s Embodied Language: Preliminary
Investigations of a Pilot Experiment
Gabriele Sofi a, Silvia Spadacenta, Clelia Falletti,
and Giovanni Mirabella 131
9 Perception and the Organization of Time in the
Theatre Luciano Mariti 139
PART FOUR INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES
ON APPLIED PERFORMANCE
Introduction: Does Art Therapy Work as a
Rehabilitative Tool? Giovanni Mirabella 157
10 Use of Theatrical Techniques and Elements as
Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders
Jenna Gabriel, Elisa Angevin, Tamara E. Rosen and
Matthew D. Lerner 163
11 Theatre as a Valuable Tool for Parkinson’s Disease
Rehabilitation Nicola Modugno, Imogen Kusch
and Giovanni Mirabella 177
12 Theatre and Therapy: ‘Care’, ‘Cure’, or Illusion?
Jean-Marie Pradier 187
Notes 199
Index 247
LIST OF
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1 Original stimuli: digitized images of the artworks
by Lucio Fontana. Control stimuli: digitized images
of graphically modifi ed versions of the original
artworks. 19
1.2 Original stimuli: digitized images of the artworks by
Franz Kline. Control stimuli: digitized images of
graphically modifi ed versions of the original artworks. 20
2.1 Exemplar stimuli for the experimental conditions used
in the allocentric task of extrapersonal space
categorization. Modifi ed from Chiara Fini, Marcel
Brass, Giorgia Committeri, ‘Social Scaling of
Extrapersonal Space: Target Objects Are Judged as
Closer When the Reference Frame Is a Human
Agent with Available Movement Potentialities’,
Cognition 134 (2015). 27
2.2 Exemplar stimuli for the experimental conditions
used in the egocentric task of extra-personal space
categorization. Modifi ed from Chiara Fini, Marcello
Costantini, Giorgia Committeri, ‘Sharing Space: The
Presence of Other Bodies Extends the Space Judged as
Near’, P losOne , 9(12) (2014). 32
5.1 Effect of presence experiences on enjoyment ratings
(Corinne Jola, Matthew Reason). 85
5.2 Effects of proximity on sensorimotor simulation
(Corinne Jola, Matthew Reason). 87
5.3 Effects of co-p resence on sensorimotor simulation
(Corinne Jola, Matthew Reason). 88
8.1 The age of the subjects of the experiment (Gabriele
Sofi a, Silvia Spadacenta, Giovanni Mirabella, Clelia
Falletti). 134
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