The Synchrony Project: Nacht van Kunst en Wetenschap

Description

A team led by YAG-member Marieke van Vugt, including interdisciplinary YAG PhD student Lionel Newman, Random Collision dance company director Kirsten Krans, neuroscience postdoc Debarati Banerjee, YAG-member Susanne Täuber, and more is involved in investigating how the synchrony between the brains of two individuals is involved in human connection.

To address this question, the team has a very unique method: dancers investigate this question through movement research, while at the same time their brains are being recorded. At the same time, the scientists try to relate the cognitive and emotional processes occurring during the dancing to the brain activity.

To allow for audience involvement, the data are being collected during a series of dance performances that tour the Netherlands. During the shows, the audience can see the brain waves live, hear a poetic interpretation of the situation and talk with the researchers about their impressions.