The Arts Combined: Cognitive, Neural, and Evolutionary Connections Among the Arts

The fields devoted to the psychological study of the arts are very segregated into individual art domains. There is little cross-talk between the scientific disciplines devoted, respectively, to music, dance, theatre, literature, and visual art. This situation contrasts strongly with how the arts are manifested in human cultures, in which there is a high degree of integration. One need look no further than to religious ceremonies, pop songs, dance, film, musical theatre, opera, music videos, and performance art to know that integration is highly prevalent in the arts. Both creative production and aesthetic appreciation of the arts depend upon how artforms interact with and complement one another to generate holistic multi-modal experiences.

The current research topic seeks to shed light on the interconnections among the arts in both production and perception. Principal areas of exploration include, but are not restricted to, the connections between:

• music and speech/language/poetry
• dance and music
• film and music, including music video
• dancing and acting/miming/storytelling
• theatre and literature
• visual art and literature
• visual art and the performing arts

Connections can be examined at the cognitive, neural, physiological, clinical, educational, cultural, and/or evolutionary levels, or any combination of these. The overall aim of this research topic is to develop scientific models that are true to the richly integrated nature of the arts in human life.

Keywords: Integration of the Arts, Multi-modal Experiences, Artforms Interaction, Cognitive and Neural Connections, Cultural Interconnections

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.