How do we perceive beauty? How can engaging in art and the pleasure we elicit from it help us make sense, meaning and inspire us toward action in our daily activities? Can the experience of pleasure and beauty through the arts strengthenour health?
Our guest on the Dancing into Brain Health Podcast is Dr. Edward Vessel, a neuroscientist who uses behavior, brain imaging and computation to study the psychological and neural basis of aesthetic experiences, creative insight and curiosity. We discuss how neuroaesthetics research is helping us understand the way the brain responds to art, beauty and creativity and how these findings can inform future practice to improve brain health and wellbeing across our life.
To learn more about Dr. Edward Vessel here: https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/profiles/edward-vessel andhere: http://edvessel.com
Read more:
Biederman, Irving & Vessel, Edward. (2006). Perceptual Pleasure and the Brain. American Scientist - AMER SCI. 94. 10.1511/2006.3.247. https://www.americanscientist.org/article/perceptual-pleasure-and-the-brain
Vessel EA, Starr GG, Rubin N. The brain on art: intense aesthetic experience activates the default mode network. Front HumNeurosci. 2012 Apr 20;6:66. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00066. PMID: 22529785; PMCID: PMC3330757. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00066/full
Vessel, E.A., Pasqualette, L., Uran, C., Koldehoff, S., Vinck, M. (2023). Self-relevance predicts the aesthetic appeal of real and synthetic artworks generated via neural style transfer. Psychological Science, 34(9), 1007 1023. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976231188107
Vessel, E.A., Isik, A.I., Belfi, A.M., Stahl, J.L., Starr, G.G. (2019). The default-mode network represents aesthetic appeal that generalizes across visual domains. Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences, Sep 2019, 201902650, https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1902650116
Conwell, C., Graham, D., Boccagno, C. & Vessel, E.A. (2025). The perceptual primacy of feeling: Affectless visual machines explain a majority of variance in human visual visually-evoked affect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(4), e2306025121.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2306025121
Welke, D., Purton, I., & Vessel, E. A. (2023). Inspired by art: Higher aesthetic appeal elicits increased felt inspiration in a creative writing task. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 17(3), 261–277. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000393https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Faca0000393
Trupp, M.D., Bignardi, G., Specker, E., Vessel, E.A., Pelowski, M. (2023). Who benefits from art viewing, and how: the role of pleasure, meaningfulness, and trait aesthetic responsiveness in computer-based art interventions for well-being. Computers inHuman Behavior, 145, 107764.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107764
Christensen, J.F., Muralikrishnan, R., Münzberg, M., Castaño-Manías, B., Khorsandi, S., Vessel, E.A. (2024) Can 5 minutes of finger actions boost creative incubation? Journal of Cognitive Enhancement. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-024-00306-0
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by me, Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
This World Alzheimer’s Month, we engage in a topic that is largely under-addressed – youth brain health. Public health recommendations encourage a life course approach to brain health and dementia prevention, however much of the public discourse, research and interventions around these topics center middle and late adulthood.
Young adulthood and the potential brain health risk factors are largely neglected in dementia research and policy making despite this demographic being highly exposed to several known modifiable risk factors. Globally, the potential risk and protective factors that have the biggest effect on dementia outcomes in young adulthood remain unclear.
Our guest today on the Dancing into Brain Health Podcast is neuroscientist and Assistant Professor in the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Dr. Francesca Farina. In our discussion, she introduces a new initiative that is shining a light into the topic of youth brain health.
Learn more about Dr. Francesca Farina here: https://profiles.uchicago.edu/profiles/display/41427710
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/francesca-farina
https://www.linkedin.com/in/francescarfarina/
Learn more about Next Generation Brain Health and get in touch HERE: https://preventdementia.co.uk/next-gen/
Learn more about PERI-MIND and get in touch HERE: https://obgyn.uchicago.edu/research/peri-mind
Read or watch more:
Next generation brain health: transforming global research and public health to promote prevention of dementia and reduce its risk in young adult populations
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhl/article/PIIS2666-7568(24)00191-0/fulltext
Exploring brain health awareness and dementia risk in young adults: A focus group study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39864278/
Young Adult Brain Capital: A New Opportunity for DementiaPrevention
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37302036/
Shifting the Narrative, Bringing Light to Younger-Onset Dementia
https://www.gbhi.org/events/shifting-narrative-bringing-light-younger-onset-dementia
Global burden of young-onset dementia, from 1990 to 2021: an age-period-cohort analysis from the global burden of disease study 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-025-03275-w#Sec18
Reducing fear and avoidance of memory loss improves mood and social engagement in community-based older adults: a randomized trial
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10688470/
Why Science Needs Art: From Historical to Modern Day Perspectives
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
A strong sense of purpose and meaning is increasingly recognized as having extensive health benefits. Recent studies illustrate the correlation of a strong sense of purpose and meaning in life to promoting better outcomes after a stroke and being associated with a decreased risk of dementia.
For many people who receive a diagnosis of dementia, the pervasive narratives which exist in public discourse paint the experience of dementia as one-note, characterized solely with tragedy, loss and deficit. These narratives around dementia inadvertently influence how people who receive a dementia diagnosis perceive their own agency and sense of purpose.
Our guest on this episode of the Dancing into Brain Health Podcast is artist and dementia advocate Mark Timmons. He has channeled his own lived experience, as someone diagnosed with early-onset dementia in his late 40s, to influence his ongoing advocacy work with people newly diagnosed with dementia.
Together we discuss the ways we can support nurturing a new sense of purpose, agency and meaning and how engaging in creative expression supports brain health and a new identity when navigating the experience of dementia.
Learn more about Mark Timmons here: https://marktimmonsphotography.com/about/
Read or watch more:
Snee, J., Snee R., & Momo the Poet. (Eds.). (2025) The Rockland Rhapsody: A Collection of Poetry and Prose by Rockland Writers. Access a digital copy here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hbezpkn8q0bqvvcjuwrme/RocklandRhapsody2026.pdf?rlkey=lk3lfl7tj811y1xz7soletsz9&e=1&dl=0
“Photography Helps with Dementia & Advocacy (Mark Timmons) Ep#42 This Dementia Life”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ohLGjtJgD0
“Featured Artist Mark Timmons on Dementia and the Arts”
https://alzheimersspeaks.com/featured-artist-mark-timmons-on-dementia-and-the-arts/
Learn more and connect with the Dementia Action Alliance: https://daanow.org/
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
Physical activity is one of the key actions we can introduce into our lifestyles producing significant benefits on our lifelong health. Researchers and public health officials advise that engaging in physical activity across the life course influences our health in multiple ways from prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes, reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, and improving overall well-being.
When considering brain health and cognitive aging, the Lancet Commission lists physical activity as one of the 14 modifiable risk factors that contribute to lifelong reduction of dementia risk by up to 45%. Whereas the impact of physical activity on brain health is undeniable, significant variability exists in the understanding of the impact on diverse demographics and specific mechanisms related to cognitive aging and among diverse forms of dementia.
Our guest this episode of the Dancing into Brain HealthPodcast is neuropsychologist and researcher, Dr. Kaitlin Casaletto. Dr. Casaletto's research program aims to prevent cognitive decline by identifying the biological and behavioral drivers of cognitive resilience with age.
Together we discuss the latest research on how engaging inphysical activity can protect our brains as we age and explore new avenues of research and practice on the horizon.
Learn more about Dr. Kaitlin Casaletto here: https://memory.ucsf.edu/people/kaitlin-casalettoor follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlin-casaletto-68959b58/'
Read some of Dr. Casaletto’s work:
Late-life physical activity and cognitive resilience:
“Late-Life Physical and Cognitive Activities IndependentlyContribute to Brain and Cognitive Resilience”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7233450/
“Late-life physical activity relates to brain tissue synaptic integrity markers in older adults”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9259753/
“Microglial Correlates of Late Life Physical Activity: Relationship with Synaptic and Cognitive Aging in Older Adults”
https://www.jneurosci.org/content/42/2/288
“Get Moving! Increases in Physical Activity Are AssociatedWith Increasing Functional Connectivity Trajectories in Typically Aging Adults”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7198911/
“Network-based Plasma Proteomics Reveals Molecular Overlap Between Physical Activity and Dementia Risk”
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.07.25323587v1
Physical activity correlations with progression amongpeople living with Frontotemporal Dementia:
“Active lifestyles moderate clinical outcomes in autosomaldominant frontotemporal degeneration”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6953618/
Sex differences in cognitive aging:
“Sexual dimorphism of physical activity on cognitive aging:Role of immune functioning”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7416443/
Interested to learn more about Dr. Casaletto and colleagues’research on sex-specific brain health? Check out Ann S. Bowers Women's Brain Health Initiative (https://wbhi.ucsb.edu/) to access educational videos, learn about the latest research and reach out to participate in upcoming studies.
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited andproduced by me, Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
Recent focus in global research on brain health has emphasized modifiable risk factors which at various points in our life positively influence our brain health trajectories. In fact, as highlighted by the Lancet Commission, we know that approximately 45% of adverse brain health in the form of dementia could be mitigated by 14 risk factors across our life.
Much of this research embraces the understanding that our brains are plastic (malleable) and that the actions/inactions we take, our social and physical environment and our biology all work together to support our cognitive aging. It also centers the understanding that our brain is embodied and that our interactions in and through our bodies have an impact on our brain health.
This time on Dancing into Brain Health, our guest is cognitive scientist Dr. Helena Blumen. Dr. Blumen is one of the leading researchers investigating the trajectories of modifiable risk factors of the brain in aging and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. Her early career research helped put social dancing on the map as a potential promoter of brain health through investigations of gait as a prodromal brain health marker. Her latest research is investigating another important modifiable risk factor for brain health, social connection.
Studies suggest that feeling lonely can increase the risk of all-cause dementia by around 31%. Although studies disagree on the exact impact of social isolation on dementia risk citing 27-60% increased risk, the detrimental impact is undeniable.
In today’s episode we discuss Dr. Blumen’s latest research which is illuminating some of the individual risk factors that can contribute to this, what structures are affected in our brains when we experience social connection/disconnection and ways we can all take actions to bolster our social connections as we age.
Learn more about Dr. Helena Blumen here: https://renaissance.stonybrookmedicine.edu/neurology/faculty/research-faculty/Helena-Blumen or follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helena-blumen-7928205/
Read some of Dr. Blumen’s work:
Randomized Controlled Trial of Social Ballroom Dancing and Treadmill Walking: Preliminary Findings on Executive Function and Neuroplasticity From Dementia-at-Risk Older Adults https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36516851/
Gray Matter Volume Covariance Networks, Social Support, and Cognition in Older Adults https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30816944/
“Gray matter volume covariance networks associated with social networks in older adults” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30324863/
This article shows that living with someone and volunteering or working in old age is a associated with a reduced rate of cognitive decline in aging compared to those that live alone and/or do not volunteer or work for pay. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38820770/
This article suggests that loneliness is associated with decreased physical activity in widowed but not married or unmarried individuals https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38756882/
This article suggests that people with robust (tangible) social support show a reduced decline in mobility (simple and complex walking) in aging. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37886832/
This article shows that robust (tangible support) reduces the incidence of MCR (motoric cognitive risk syndrome) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36081405/
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by me, Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
Dance is a powerfully beneficial activity for people living with Parkinson’s Disease. Initially emerging into academic literature in the late 1980s, with a study comparing the impact of dance movement therapy and traditional exercise on the movement symptoms of people living with Parkinson’s Disease, this dance and health approach has inspired numerous studies offering a robust platform for the field. Despite popular awareness about the impact of dance for Parkinson’s Disease increasing, much is still unknown about the specificity of impacts for diverse communities and well as the mechanisms of how different dance forms support domains of brain health.
In today’s episode of Dancing into Brain Health, our guest is dancer/researcher Dr. Aline Haas whose passion for dance and health has spearheaded initiatives that are addressing just this. Together we will inquire, how can we ensure more of the benefits of dance can reach those outside of the global north? How can access to and research on dance and health be more equitable?
To learn more about Dr. Aline Haas, visit her website https://sites.google.com/view/personalpagealinehaas or follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aline-nogueira-haas-phd-2b4441287/
Instagram @alinehaas
Read some of Dr. Haas’s work:
Dr Haas’ ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-0668
Check out the Dança e Parkinson and follow them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dancaeparkinson/
Learn more about Dr. Haas’s latest research on adapting Amazonian dance to support people living with Parkinson’s Disease here: https://www.gbhi.org/projects/promoting-brain-health-through-amazonian-dance
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
How do we define embodiment? How does the study of neuroscience and dance inform practice and vice versa? How might engaging in these inquiries translate into better quality of life for all of us as we age?
In today’s episode of Dancing into Brain Health, our guest is dancer/researcher Dr. Glenna Batson whose multi-decade long career has aligned dance with critical somatic education, human movement science, embodied cognitive neuroscience and neuro-rehabilitation.
To learn more about Dr. Glenna Batson, visit her website www.thfold.net or follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenna-batson-3b1a5a82/ and Instagram @berylgb.
Read some of Dr. Batson’s work:
Latest Book Publication (Just released – March 2025 – Epub and Hardback): Susan Sentler & Glenna Batson (eds) artmaking as embodied enquiry: entering the f/old: https://www.intellectbooks.com/artmaking-as-embodied-enquiry
Batson G, Blaesing BE, Nogueira Haas A, Hugenschmidt CE, DeSouza JFX. Dance, Embodied Agency and Neuroplasticity in Aging. Ebook, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. 2024. https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/55751/dance-embodied-agency-and-neuroplasticity-in-aging/magazine
Glenna Batson with Margaret Wilson – Body and Mind in Motion – Dance and Neuroscience in Conversation (2014)
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/B/bo18074343.html
Batson G. Human Origami: The Embryo as a Folding Life Continuum. Journal of Prenatal and Life Sciences. http://www.journalprenatalife.com/index.php/prenatal/article/view/Human%20Origami
Batson G, Hugenschmidt CE, Soriano CT (2016). Verbal Auditory Cueing of Improvisational Dance: A Proposed Method for Training Agency in Parkinson’s Disease. Frontiers in Neurology. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4756105/
Learn more about your host, Magda Kaczmarska, and DanceStream Projects on our website: https://dancestreamprojects.org/ or follow us on Instagram: @ dancestream_projects
To engage with our events, meet our partners and browse the latest arts+health research & resources, check out our monthly newsletter, “Dancing into Brain Health”: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7250209162221993986/
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by me, Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
Which comes first – understanding of action language or the action itself? How are our abilities to describe actions linked to our ability to enact them?
In today’s episode of Dancing into Brain Health, our guest is neuroscientist and neurolinguist Dr. Adolfo García whose research is uncovering the neural mechanisms behind motor-language coupling and how this understanding can help individuals who are living with neurodegenerative conditions.
To learn more about Dr. Adolfo Garcia, visit his website: https://adolfogarcia.com.ar/ or follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adolfomgarcia/
Read Dr. Garcia’s papers on the neural mechanisms of motor-language coupling: “A moving story: Whole-body motor training selectively improves the appraisal of action meanings in naturalistic narratives” (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12928-w)and “Body into Narrative: Behavioral and Neurophysiological Signatures of Action Text Processing After Ecological Motor Training” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36368604/ as well as this paper on the fast recruitment of motor circuits by action verbs: “How meaning unfolds in neural time: Embodied reactivations can precede multimodal semantic effects during language processing” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31059796/).
Learn more about your host, Magda Kaczmarska, and DanceStream Projects on our website: https://dancestreamprojects.org/or follow us on Instagram: @ dancestream_projects
To engage with our events, meet our partners and browse the latest arts+health research & resources, check out our monthly newsletter, “Dancing into Brain Health”: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7250209162221993986/
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
Dance has often been called the universal language. Whether engaging with dance as performers or audience members, we often find ourselves transfixed with the ability of this movement-based communication to move us and connect us. In this inaugural episode of Dancing into Brain Health, we uncover the ways dance might indeed help us speak. Our guest is neuroscientist and dancer Dr. Constantina Theofanopoulou whose research is uncovering the neural mechanisms behind how engaging in dance may actually support or even rehabilitate speech.
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To learn more about Dr. Constantina Theofanopoulou, visither website: https://www.constantinatheofanopoulou.com/or follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-constantina-theofanopoulou-4a3649200/
You can read her paper published in the Journal ofAlzheimer’s Disease: “Dancing towards speech improvement: Repurposing dance for motor speech deficits in neurodegenerative diseases” here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/13872877241313304
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You can learn more about your host, Magda Kaczmarska, and DanceStream Projects on our website: https://dancestreamprojects.org/ or follow us on Instagram: @dancestream_projects
To engage with our events, meet our partners and browse the latest arts+health research & resources, check out our monthly newsletter, “Dancing into Brain Health”: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7250209162221993986/
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.