The Neuroscience of Dance: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review

Ancient and culturally universal, dance pervades many areas of life and has multiple benefits. In this article, we provide a conceptual framework and systematic review, as a guide for researching the neuroscience of dance. We identified relevant articles following PRISMA guidelines, and summarised and evaluated all original results. We identified avenues for future research in: the interactive and collective aspects of dance; groove; dance performance; dance observation; and dance therapy. Furthermore, the interactive and collective aspects of dance constitute a vital part of the field but have received almost no attention from a neuroscientific perspective so far. Dance and music engage overlapping brain networks, including common regions involved in perception, action, and emotion. In music and dance, rhythm, melody, and harmony are processed in an active, sustained pleasure cycle giving rise to action, emotion, and learning, led by activity in specific hedonic brain networks. The neuroscience of dance is an exciting field, which may yield information concerning links between psychological processes and behaviour, human flourishing, and the concept of eudaimonia.

The sweet spot between predictability and surprise: musical groove in brain, body, and social interactions

Groove—defined as the pleasurable urge to move to a rhythm—depends on a fine-tuned interplay between predictability arising from repetitive rhythmic patterns, and surprise arising from rhythmic deviations, for example in the form of syncopation. The perfect balance between predictability and surprise is commonly found in rhythmic patterns with a moderate level of rhythmic complexity and represents the sweet spot of the groove experience. In contrast, rhythms with low or high complexity are usually associated with a weaker experience of groove because they are too boring to be engaging or too complex to be interpreted, respectively. Consequently, the relationship between rhythmic complexity and groove experience can be described by an inverted U-shaped function. We interpret this inverted U shape in light of the theory of predictive processing and provide perspectives on how rhythmic complexity and groove can help us to understand the underlying neural mechanisms linking temporal predictions, movement, and reward. A better understanding of these mechanisms can guide future approaches to improve treatments for patients with motor impairments, such as Parkinson’s disease, and to investigate prosocial aspects of interpersonal interactions that feature music, such as dancing. Finally, we present some open questions and ideas for future research.

Development of lock-in based overtone modulated MARY spectroscopy for detection of weak magnetic field effects

Modulated magnetically altered reaction yield (ModMARY) spectroscopy is a derivative variant of fluorescence detected magnetic field effect measurement, where the applied magnetic field has both a constant and a modulated component. As in many derivative spectroscopy techniques, the signal to noise ratio scales with the magnitude of the modulation. High modulation amplitudes, however, distort the signal and can obscure small features of the measured spectrum. In order to detect weak magnetic field effects (including the low field effect) a balance of the two has to be found. In this work we look in depth at the origin of the distortion of the MARY signal by field modulation. We then present an overtone detection scheme, as well as a data analysis method which allows for correct fitting of both harmonic and overtone signals of the modulation broadened MARY data. This allows us to robustly reconstruct the underlying MARY curve at different modulation depths. To illustrate the usefulness of the technique, we show measurements and analysis of a well known magnetosensitive system of pyrene/1,3-dicyanobenzene (Py/DCB). The measurements of first (h1) and second (h2) harmonic spectra are performed at different modulation depths for both natural isotopic abundance (PyH10), and perdeuterated (PyD10) pyrene samples.

Detection of magnetic field effects by confocal microscopy

Certain pairs of paramagnetic species generated under conservation of total spin angular momentum are known to undergo magnetosensitive processes. Two prominent examples of systems exhibiting these so-called magnetic field effects (MFEs) are photogenerated radical pairs created from either singlet or triplet molecular precursors, and pairs of triplet states generated by singlet fission. Here, we showcase confocal microscopy as a powerful technique for the investigation of such phenomena. We first characterise the instrument by studying the field-sensitive chemistry of two systems in solution: radical pairs formed in a cryptochrome protein and the flavin mononucleotide/hen egg-white lysozyme model system. We then extend these studies to single crystals. Firstly, we report temporally and spatially resolved MFEs in flavin-doped lysozyme single crystals. Anisotropic magnetic field effects are then reported in tetracene single crystals. Finally, we discuss the future applications of confocal microscopy for the study of magnetosensitive processes with a particular focus on the cryptochrome-based chemical compass believed to lie at the heart of animal magnetoreception.

Confocal microscopy is showcased as a powerful technique for the measurement of spatiotemporally-resolved magnetic field effects in both solutions and single crystals.