Psychophysiological Correlates of Mental Performance of the Improvisation Dance

The article substantiates the relevance of the study of dance activities and the need to examine the psychophysiological correlates of mental performance of the improvisation dance. These studies can serve as a foundation for the development and optimization of conditions of dance abilities and motor skills, helping to develop programs to increase the results of sporting activities. We described the methods and procedures of the empirical research. The study involved 60 students between the ages of 18 to 25 years, among them there were 20 professional dancers, who have reached a high level of skill in sports-pop dance; 20 novice dancers, who have only basic experience in sports-pop dance and did not receive complete, comprehensive training, and 20 students, who have never engaged in dancing or other sports (control group) at the professional or amateur level. As the construction of the mental performance of dance movements we used improvisation task. This type of task involves creating motor and dance image (mental model). In this case, the team members were instructed to mentally perform the dance, which must be unique and original (dance improvisation). At the end of the study the mental performance of the original dance had to recreate a real dance. To study the strength and character of the distribution of coherent connections of the cerebral cortex during mental improvisation dance performance in study participants used the method of EEG. The results of the research nature of the distribution of the cerebral cortex' coherent links at professional dancers during the improvisation dance performed by mental representation of elements of professional dance-specific activity. The general and specific features of the nature of cortical interactions at professional dancers, beginners and not dancers, with the mental performance of the improvisation dance, are revealed.