A new five-year research initiative called Neurolive explores how dancing impacts the brain. Led by Dr. Guido Orgs, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London, and choreographer Matthias Sperling, the project combines neuroscience and dance to examine what happens in our brains during live performances. While most previous studies have relied on participants watching videos, advancements in mobile electroencephalography (EEG) now enable researchers to record brain activity in real-time during live events. Neurolive is groundbreaking in its scale, simultaneously measuring the brain activity of up to 23 individuals.
Interestingly, the research revealed a consistent brain activity pattern across viewers, regardless of whether they enjoyed the performance, understood it, or even overanalyzed it as a dance critic might. Furthermore, the study uncovered greater synchronization in brain activity among people attending the same performance compared to those sitting in identical seats at a different show.