Why does a compelling performance have the power to sway us? And what about the actors’ emotions and identity during a performance? Do they lose some of their own sense of self while in character?
Join us as we explore how science is delving into these questions.
FREE
Thursday, 13th February 2025
21:00-22:30 | drinks & snacks
SPEAKERS & PERFORMERS
CHRISTIAN KEYSERS
DWAYNICA GREAVES
ELSA MAURÍCIO CHILDS
HOSTS
DANIELA PEREIRA
LUISA VASCONCELOS
MARIA VITO
LANGUAGE
This live event will be in English and will also be transmitted online.
If we ask you to describe the experience of going to the theater, you probably imagine yourself sitting in a dark room watching others perform. But this description falls short in portraying the impact of watching a theater performance. You may be entertained, you may learn something new, you may even be transported to a different reality and see yourself living it, sharing emotions and understanding intentions that the actors convey. So why does a compelling performance have the power to move us?
The answer may be found in the remarkable similarity between how our brains and our bodies represent ourselves and how they represent others. We know for example that we have cells in our brain called “mirror neurons” that are active when we perform an action and also when we observe others performing a similar action. Could there be a similar neural system for sharing emotions? We know that when we interact, our biological rhythms- from how fast our heart beats, to the rate at which neurons fire, to how we move- can synchronize. When our biology responds in such a similar way to ourselves as it does to others, what happens to an actor’s emotion and identity during a performance? What can this tell us about our everyday interactions with those around us?
Join us on February 13th at 9pm to explore how science is delving into these questions. Professor Christian Keysers, from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, will tell us about the neural basis of empathy. Dwaynica Greaves, from University College London, will then share her findings on actors’ sense-of-self and interpersonal synchrony. A Playback theater performance from the InVerso theater group will follow, where actors and audience will put into practice the neural mechanisms highlighted by the two speakers. Finally, we will wrap up with a conversation between researchers and artists to round up the different points of view and make sense of the whole experience.
Speakers
Christian Keysers
Christian Keysers studied psychology and biology in Germany and the US. He then obtained his PhD in neuroscience with David Perrett in St Andrews (UK). In 2000 he became a postdoctoral scientist in the team of Giacomo Rizzolatti (Parma, Italy). Here his work showed that mirror neurons respond to both the sound and the sight of actions, a discovery that became one of the most cited neuroscience papers. He then moved to become an assistant professor in Groningen, Netherlands, in 2004 where his work established that the notion of mirror neurons extends from the motor system to the limbic and tactile system, seeding our understanding of the neural basis of empathy. Since 2010, he leads the Social Brain Lab at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience together with Valeria Gazzola. He is also a full professor for social neuroscience at the University of Amsterdam.
Dwaynica Greaves
Dwaynica Greaves is a Neuroaesthetician investigating the socio-cognitive effects of performing arts on audiences and performers. She has achieved a BSc in Psychology from City, University of London – research project entitled ‘The Effects of Mood Induction on Emotional Perception of Movement Stimuli.’ Next, she graduated from the MSc Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics and Creativity programme at Goldsmiths, University of London – research project entitled ‘Deconstructing the Dream: The Effects of Audience Participation on Audience Engagement in Theatrical Performances.’ She is a current student on the MPhil/PhD Cognitive Neuroscience programme at UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, where she aims to investigate the effects of theatrical training on social cognition via behavioural, physiological and neural methods.
Performance byInVerso:
InVerso is a Playback Theatre group created in 2018 by Elsa Maurício Childs and formed by professional performers, whose mission is to amplify the voice of individual narratives told by the public, to honour them and offer back to those who share them (as well as to those who listen to these stories) a sense of themselves and their belonging to a group, as human beings and as members of a community. Playback theatre is born from the stimulus offered by the audience that watches the performance, in the form of true personal stories, narrated in the first person, which are represented by the team of performers in an improvised way. (Photo credit:Alexandre Barão)
Elsa Maurício Childs
Elsa Maurício Childs studied Modern Languages and Literature and founded and directed the Verdes Anos school. She is a co-founder of Projecto Eco and founder, director of InVerso, two Playback Theatre collectives with a particular focus on mental health and human rights work. She is an Accredited Trainer at the Centre for Playback Theatre and seeks to focus her work on social justice and anti-oppression work. She is a member of the teaching team at the Iberian School of Playback Theatre and is a board member of the Iberian Association of Playback Theatre, where she is the Ethics Committee member. She is also a member of two international online Playback Theatre companies and the Playback Theatre project for social justice HEED. She is the founder and board member of Corda Teatro and the intersectional feminist group Eufémias which focuses on issues of identity in the performing arts. She tries to bring poetry and dance into her theatre practice as much as possible. (Photo credit:Alexandre Barão)
Hosts
Daniela Pereira
Daniela Pereira is a Research Scientist in the Neural Circuits Dysfunction Lab at the Champalimaud Foundation. Daniela’s projects focus on understanding how neuronal connections are reshaped to support motor learning. She is also an amateur theater student and a frequent participant and organizer of science outreach activities.
Luisa Vasconcelos
Luisa Vasconcelos is a Research Associate running the Innate Behavior Laboratory at Champalimaud Foundation where they use fruit flies to chart the neural basis of instinct. She is also an overenthusiastic newbie to amateur theater.
Maria Vito
Maria Vito is a Manager of a support platform in neuroscience and cancer research at the Champalimaud Foundation. This platform provides daily services and support to the Champalimaud Research labs and platforms and some clinical departments. Maria is also an amateur theater performer.