You had to be there: Study shows live performance syncs minds
What’s new
A new study in iScience shows that watching live performance can literally bring people’s brains into sync. Researchers found that audience members’ brainwaves aligned when watching a live contemporary dance piece — but not when they watched a video of the same performance alone.
Why it matters
The research highlights the measurable impact of “liveness” — the shared, real-time experience of art. It also suggests that presence and social context may play a key role in how we engage with performance, beyond the content itself.
What the study found
The research, part of the NEUROLIVE project, involved scientists and artists from UCL , Goldsmiths, University of London , the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics , and Siobhan Davies Studios .
Scientists fitted 59 people with EEG headsets during three live performances of Detective Work, a dance piece choreographed by Seke Chimutengwende .
- Audience members’ brain activity synchronized in the delta band, associated with social processing and mind-wandering.
- Synchrony was strongest during moments of direct eye contact from performers.
- Watching the same piece in a group cinema setting triggered some synchrony — but it weakened significantly when viewed alone.
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“We wanted to explore what makes live performance feel so different from watching a recording,” said senior author Guido Orgs of University College London. “Dance felt like the perfect medium to investigate that.”
Artists’ intuition confirmed
Synchrony peaked at nearly every moment choreographer Seke Chimutengwende had predicted would be most engaging — offering evidence that artistic judgment around audience attention may be surprisingly precise.
“People often emphasize how personal and subjective art is,” said Orgs. “But when it comes to attention, we found that how people engage with live performance can be surprisingly predictable and measurable.”
The bottom line
Live performance doesn’t just feel different — it registers in our brains. As this study shows, the experience of being there, together, can create a measurable kind of connection.
Read the full study in iScience.
Great article! I'd love to know if the same is true for business meetings. Do our brainwaves sync when face to face in a way that they don't when we video conference?
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Fascinating research. Human connection in action. Elsevier
Fascinating insights Elsevier—and a powerful reminder that shared experience isn’t just emotional, it’s neurological. This is why designing inclusive, live digital experiences matters so deeply. If presence can sync minds, then access to that presence—regardless of ability—must be treated as operationally essential, not optional.
Fascinating insights Elsevier—and a powerful reminder that shared experience isn’t just emotional, it’s neurological. This is why designing inclusive, live digital experiences matters so deeply. If presence can sync minds, then access to that presence—regardless of ability—must be treated as operationally essential, not optional.