Acute Effects of Improvisational Dance and Choreography Learning on Cognitive Function and Creativity of Experienced Hip-hop Dancers
Description
This study explored whether the different forms of hip-hop dance--improvisational dance (ID) and choreography learning (CL)--have distinct effects on individuals' inhibition, working memory, and creativity. A one-way repeated measures study design was adopted due to the limited num-ber of experienced dancers. Thirty participants were recruited to participate in the experiment. After the pre-test, participants were randomized to carry out either ID or CL for 45 minutes, fol-lowed immediately by a post-test. One week later, after accomplishing the other uncompleted dance session, participants completed the post-test again. The results showed both ID and CL had significant improvements on interference control and working memory, but only ID could im-prove participants’ creativity in convergent thinking，and only after CL session, the accuracy of behavioral inhibition decreased. The findings confirmed that different forms of dance training have distinctive impacts on a dancer's cognitive function and creativity.