Dance On The Brain: Examining How Dance Enhances Social Skills Through Behavioral And Neural Synchrony

We developed The Synchronicity Hypothesis of Dance, stating that dance can promote synchronous neural activity throughout regions of a dancer’s brain (intra-brain synchrony) and between dancers’ brains (inter-brain synchrony). Examining the effects of dance on the brain could provide insights on its clinical utility to enhance social skills. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of a dance intervention on social skills, cognition, and behavioral and neural synchrony in healthy adults. METHODS: Neurotypical adults (n = 16; age range 18-45; 87.5% female) were assigned to participate in either 4 weeks of improvisational dance training (n = 7) or dance movie watching (n = 9) (twice per week for 90 minutes each session). Social cognition was assessed through self-reported questionnaires and neurocognitive tasks before and after the intervention. Participants also engaged in one-on-one interactive dance experiences with an instructor (eye gaze, verbal conversation, movement mirroring, and movement conversation - 5 minutes each) before and after the intervention. During these experiences, the participant and instructor wore 32-channel wet electrode electroencephalography (EEG) caps and wearables that measured heart rate variability and electrodermal activity. Videos of experiences were analyzed with DeepLabCut to estimate posture. RESULTS: The dance intervention group experienced significant decreases in stress (t(10) = 1.779, p = 0.053) and increases in empathy (t(10) = -3.029, p = 0.006) and mindfulness (t(10) = -2.449, p = 0.017) compared to the control group. Decreased stress was associated with increased mindfulness (r(10) = -0.588, p = 0.017) and empathy (r(10) = -0.594, p = 0.016). Decreased stress and increased mindfulness and empathy were significantly correlated with increased interpersonal functioning and social connectedness. Preliminary observations of EEG data show moments of coherence during the interactive experiences. CONCLUSION: Preliminary evidence indicates dance can train interpersonal coordination. Further analysis will investigate whether these behavioral social outcomes are related to changes in neural and physiological synchrony. Supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science of the National Institutes of Health Award UL1TR003015/KL2TR003016.