Dancing can help with problem solving - and researchers in their effects on people searching with Parkinson 's disease

Dr Peter Lovatt heads of the Dance Psychology Lab at the University of Hertfordshire, since its inception in 2008. Previously, he was trained in ballet, tap and jazz, and worked as a professional dancer. Last summer, he wrote, produced and starred in Dance, Doctor, Dance! The Psychology of Dance Showas part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In March he gave a lecture on TEDx Observer .

How can dance to change how people think?

We 've had people dancing in the lab and doing problem solving - and different types of dance to help them with various kinds of problem-solving. We know that when people in improvised forms of dance they engage to help them with divergent thinking - where it 's more than one answer to a problem. While if they engage them in a very structured dance helps her convergent thinking - trying to find the only answer to a problem.

You 've been studying the impact of dance on People with Parkinson' s disease ...

Yes, we know as Parkinson 's disease develops it can lead to disruption of divergent thought processes. So we thought if we used improvised dance with a PD group, we could see an improvement in their divergent thinking skills, and that was exactly what we saw.

Next we want to examine what it has to dance as an intervention, the effects on neural processing. One possibility is that when they dance, they develop new neural pathways in dopamine-depleted around blockages to get.

How else can dance to change how we think?

There have been several papers look at the self-esteem of the ballet dancers in training - and what they 've found that girls in their mid-teens have significantly lower self-esteem than non-ballet dancers. There are two explanations for this. One would be that girls with low self-esteem choose classical ballet, because the struggle for perfection reinforced her bad self-image. Another theory is that ballet training subculture can be very harmful to a young girl 's self-esteem because they are constantly told they are not doing everything right and that the body shape is very important topic in classical ballet.

What explanation do you think is right?

We try to test these two hypotheses in the laboratory by comparing data from 600 dancers in various dance groups. So we 're looking at things like the comparison of classical ballet dancer with classical Indian dancers - the last don' t have to wear tight fitting clothing to the training. We 're also the comparison with burlesque dancers, the show very much like a fuller body. If it's the case that girls with low self-esteem choose ballet is '\ s not much we can do about it. But if the classical ballet subculture could lead to eating disorders and self injury then the 's something very important, we should highlight on.

Is there a dance style that is good for the self-esteem?

Anything where it do 'sa great deal of tolerance for everything right. Things like ceilidh dancing people smile, giggle and laugh, and they are adults, and it 's absolutely right. It 's wonderful. There are also studies that have found that dancing in baggy "jazz" \ clothes better than tight fitting clothes for the dancer's self-esteem.

Is it true that women are men whose ears are equal think better dancer?

It sounds like nonsense, but a study by Brown et al, the physically symmetrical men rated women better dancers. A second study by Fink et al on men 's finger is concentrated. They measured the 2D-4D ratio - the relative length of the second and fourth position, an indicator of exposure to prenatal testosterone. He found that those men with high levels of prenatal testosterone exposure again rated as more attractive and male dancers.

You've built on this research?

I went to a night club, where we offered free admission to people when they took part in the study. Wemeasured fingers, her ears, her fertility, where the women were in their menstrual cycle, their relationship status, whether they are looking for a partner. And our results were very similar. The men with high 2D-4D ratio were rated as more attractive dancers. We also found something quite unique: the women the level of fertility indicated by their body movement by isolating and moving her hips, the men they find attractive.

This shall be a causal relationship between factors such as symmetry or hip movement and an attractive dancer?

Some people, like Brown and Fink argued, is that your hormonal and genetic make-up by the way you dance signaled. They postulate a direct connection. But it might not like that at all: Imagine a really beautiful people, so if you go to a club and everyone looks at you fills with you with confidence - this could be what makes you dance in an attractive way way that people find more attractive. It could be a link, but it could be an association of behavior that makes you more confident.

So female performers in pop videos, dance as if they were the most fertile point of their cycle?

Yes they do. Often there are many pictures of women 's hips move in isolation. Often it 's not the most attractive form of dancing - it' s an artificial improvement. What 's interesting that people say, look at these women and tell us why they never find attractive: "I just saw the last three minutes \ hip" to what point our data suggest that they do is. Instead, they find all sorts of other reasons to justify what they think.