About this Research Topic

Background

Dance is a multi-sensory and multi-modal form of movement expression, one that stimulates creative potential for innovative action and intersubjective communication. Over the last two decades, results from systematic reviews have shown a spectrum of dance styles to be powerful, non-pharmacological agents in advancing intergenerational health across quality-of-life domains. This Research Topic invites further investigation into the specificity of how the dancing body can access untapped cognitive resources that promote brain health in the elderly. While early findings from dance protocols have been shown to impact positively on structural- and functional neuroplasticity, the link between embodied agency and brain health remains under-researched and under-theorized. Researchers are called to design methodologies that test the eco-validity of dance, explicitly examining the interactive effects of sentient expressive movement with cognitive reserve. One challenge, among many, lies in explicating and differentiating the elements of the dancing body itself, particularly when outcomes correlate with other forms of movement-rich exercise for the elderly.

The intent of this Research Topic is to highlight recent research that addresses the interaction of dance-specific agency, embodied inter-subjectivity and brain plasticity among diverse elderly populations. The overarching aim is to select a state-of-the-art perspective of the intersectional field of dance and embodied cognition, one that engages across disciplines. Advancing a transdisciplinary arts-science discourse, one focused on the integration of brain and body, will stimulate scientific interest and debate around future rehabilitation avenues for advancing brain health in aging. The specific focus of this issue is to review research submissions that show new findings emerging from the interaction of cognitive factors with tacit sensorimotor factors central to dance communication.

The editorial staff welcomes contributions from researchers whose mixed methodologies report new findings. These can include, but are not limited to, explicit protocols and outcomes that address the synergistic interactions of dance and cognition, dance being defined as a playful/aesthetic expression of coordination through group movement and social engagement. We invite researchers to submit work that reports impactful new concepts and ideas, rather than improvements on incremental developments of existing designs. Welcomed are research articles from both the fields of neuroscience, neurophysiology, motor control and neuropsychology, and from phenomenological, embodied cognitive, neuro-therapeutic and artistic dance studies. All contributions submitted to this special Research Topic must be within the scope of the journal, as defined in the mission statement. Those manuscripts accepted by the Topic Editors will be promoted by Frontiers on social media. Frontiers reserves the right to reject out-of-scope manuscripts without providing feedback and/or guided referral to other journals.

Keywords: Dance, cognition, aging, neuroplasticity, agency, embodiment, brain health

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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