Theatre and Cognitive Neuroscience

Introduction

This is the first volume to provide a detailed introduction to some of the main areas of research and practice in the interdisciplinary field of art and neuroscience. With contributions from neuroscientists, theatre scholars and artists from seven countries, it offers a rich and rigorous array of perspectives as a springboard to further exploration.

Part I: Theatre as a space of relationships

It examines: Theatre as a space of relationships: a neurocognitive perspective

Part II: The spectator's performative experience and embodied theatrology

It examines: The spectator's performative experience and 'embodied theatrology'

Part III: The complexity of theatre and human cognition

It examines: The complexity of theatre and human cognition

Part IV: Interdisciplinary perspectives on applied performance

It examines: Interdisciplinary perspectives on applied performance

Each part includes contributions from international pioneers of interdisciplinarity in theatre scholarship, and from neuroscientists of world-renown researching the physiology of action, the mirror neuron mechanism, action perception, space perception, empathy and intersubjectivity.

While illustrating the remarkable growth of interest in the performing arts for cognitive neuroscience, this volume also reveals the extraordinary richness of exchange and debate born out of different approaches to the topics.