Associations between dance training and cognitive skills

Abstract

There is strong evidence that both music training and physical exercise are associated with cognitive abilities. In dance, these two areas are combined, but very few studies have examined links between dance training and cognitive skills. Dancers have to remember long complex patterns of body movements over time, an ability that is well practiced in most trained dancers. This study will examine the association between dance training and memory skills. University students with varying amounts of dance experience will be recruited, and they will complete measures of visual and auditory memory, general intelligence, and personality. We expect that participants with dance training will perform higher on tasks of memory than participants who do not have a dance background, even after controlling for general intelligence and personality variables.

Discipline: Psychology Honours

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kathleen Corrigall