Ballet Training May Alter How the Brain Processes Facial Emotions, Study Finds

A recent study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests that specialized artistic and motor training can alter how the human brain perceives emotional expressions in others. Conducted by researchers at the Centre for Cognition and Neuroscience at City St George's, University of London, the investigation examined whether professional ballet training influences social perception beyond familiar dance movements.

The study involved 26 professional or trainee ballet dancers and 26 participants with no dance background. Researchers recorded brain activity using specialized equipment while participants identified the gender and emotions of individuals shown in photographs depicting happy, afraid, and neutral facial expressions. The team utilized electroencephalography (EEG) to track when and where neural differences occurred between the two groups.

According to the findings, ballet dancers exhibited distinct patterns of brain activity compared to participants without dance experience. Dancers showed early neural differences when viewing both neutral and emotional faces, engaging visual and somatosensory systems sooner than non-dancers, who typically processed emotional cues at later stages. Senior researcher Professor Beatriz Calvo-Merino noted that the results offer empirical evidence that intensive arts training influences social cognition mechanisms like face and emotion processing.

What to know: While the findings suggest that physical and artistic training may shape embodied emotion perception, the study is observational and features a relatively small sample of 26 dancers. More research is needed to determine how various types of physical expertise influence broader social interactions. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personal health or wellness guidance.

Co-author Bettina Forster highlighted that the involvement of the somatosensory cortex points to the embodied nature of emotion perception, indicating that personal bodily experiences can alter how the brain interprets the feelings of others.