51Ƶ

Dr Corinne Jola

Senior Lecturer

Faculty Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences

Department Department of Sociological and Psychological Sciences

Contact info

+44 (0)1382 30 8756

Biography

My research merges Cognitive Neuroscience with the performing arts, i.e., dance, theatre and music. I am one of the founders of modern empirical psychological research in dance with over 15 years of experience in this interdisciplinary field.

I hold a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, and an MA equivalent licentiate in Psychology both from the University of Zurich. In addition, I am also a trained and practicing choreographer. I hold a MA with distinction in Choreography from Laban Trinity Conservatoire of Music and Dance and a postgraduatedegree in Dance Culture from the University of Berne.

51Ƶing the cognitive and neuronal responses in relation to the performing arts can provide us with extraordinary insights into the human brain and behaviour. How can a dancer train his or her mind to perform to absolute perfection? When do we experience presence? What does an actor do? The empirical study of such questions can provide us with basic psychological knowledge as well as a huge potential for impact. I am intersted in how dance can help improve the health and wellbeing for people in general and those who suffer from long-term mental and physical issues (i.e., rehabilitation of stroke patients, dealing with depressive symptomes, enhancing confidence and managing body image issues).

I’ve been publishing my research on spectators' and dancers' brain and behaviourin international peer reviewed journals and book chapters. I enjoy sharing my findings and fascination about the effects dance can have on the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us.I use behavioural experiments and qualitative research as well as brain imaging and transcranial magnet stimulation. Where possible, I base my research on ‘embodied practices’ – for more information see my website.

Before joining 51Ƶ, I held Post-Doctoral research positions at the University of Glasgow, University of Surrey, and at INSERM in Paris. I collaborated with internationally acclaimed dance and theatre companies, such as EGIPC in Amsterdam, The Centre National de la Danse in Paris, Rosie Kay (UK), or Fabrique Autonomes des Acteurs, Bataville (F).

Leadership Roles

  • Research Group Leader Development, Evolution, and Learning (DVLE)
  • International Exchange Coordinator for Psychology
  • Debuty lead for Creative Industries & Cultural Vitality Challenge Space
  • External Partnership Engagement Lead (EPE)
  • Debuty lead for Staff Engagement Steering Group Remit (SEAT)

Qualifications

  • 2015 Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
  • 2008 MA Choreography (with Distinction): The Glories of Endurance; from Laban Trinity College London
  • 2006 PhD Cognitive Neuroscience; Body Representation and Motor Imagery: Effects of Adaptability; University of Zurich, Supervisor Prof Fred Mast and Prof M.-C.Hepp-Reymond
  • 2004 postgraduate Diploma in Dance Culture: Effects of Media in Movement Notation, Representation and Transformation; from the University of Berne
  • 2002 Dance Teaching Diploma from IWANSON School for Contemporary Dance Munich
  • 2001 MA (Licentiate) in Psychology, Cognitive Science & Media Science, University of Zurich & Freiburg i. Br

Research Positions

  • since 2019 Senior Lecturer at 51Ƶ Dundee, UK
  • since 2014 Lecturer at 51Ƶ Dundee, UK
  • 2012-2013 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, INSERM and Paris 8, Paris, France
  • 2010-2012 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, UK
  • 2008-2010 Postdoctoral Researcher, AHRC funded interdisciplinary project: “Watching Dance: Kinesthetic Empathy”, Glasgow, UK
  • 2006-2007 Research Assistant, City University, on Tactile Attention, London, UK
  • 2004-2006 Individual Research Fellowship awarded from Swiss National Science Foundation for research at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICN) at University College London (UCL). Guest supervisor: Prof. P. Haggard; London, UK
  • 2003-2004 PhD research. Supervisor: Prof. F. W. Mast (behavioural) and Prof Marie-Claude Hepp-Reymond at University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2002-2003 Research Assistant Science & Technology in Intellectual Property at HE at the Swiss Federal Government Berne, Switzerland
  • 2002 Research Assistant (part-time), Visual Perception and Spatial Attention Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Germany
  • 1999-2002 Research Assistant at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH, Zurich (data Analysis and presentation of quantitative and qualitative research)
  • 1994-2001 Studies in Psychology, Cognitive Science & Media Science, University of Zurich & Freiburg i. Br.

BACKGROUND
My teaching is research informed and I highly value critical reflection and discussion in applying findings from Psychology to contemporaryissues present in the 'real' world.

In 2015 I completed myCertificate for Teaching at HigherEducation and followed a CPD in Teaching Dance. Since then,Iaim to design modules that allow students to learn ona cognitive and on an embodied level.As part of a funded student research project, we explored the effects of the learning context (i.e., seating arrangements)with the aim to continously advancestudents' learning experience.

MODULES
I currently teach on the following modules:

-PSY103: Evidence based thinking: Scientific approaches to studying human behaviour
-PSY208: Cognitive Perspectives on Psychology (Module leader)
-PSY301: Biological Psychology and Individual Differences
-PSY303: Advanced Research, Design and Analysis
-PSY315: Evidence-based thinking: Advanced perspectives on human behaviour
-PSY410: Honours projects (Supervision of approx. 6-8 honours projects studentseach year in various topics frequently around physical activity and somatic practices (yoga, mindfulness) and social interaction)
-PSY420: Work Placement module

Previously, I have been teaching on the modules of Applied Psychology and Masters Research Methods, and I led the module Individual Differences.Until 2022, I also thought the option module PSY309: The Brain in Action: From Dance to Trance
This was an option module where students learnt about the human brain and behaviour in relation to dance and other creative practices. It included activities to embody different disciplines in order to strenghten students' understanding, provide them with research ideas and notably enrich their experiences of interdisciplinary research. With a number of visiting guest lecturers, students had the opportunity to gain insight into applied practices in neighbouring fields of Psychology which will widen their horizon for possible professional trajectories after studying.

MEETING ME
My office hours for Winter 2022/2023 are by appointment in Psychology on level 5 (The attic) on Friday's 2-3pm and on Thursday's 4-5pm.

Interests

My main research interest is in measuringcognitive and emotional processes in real life events, in particular in the performing arts; and how our understanding of expertise and social interaction in the performing arts can beneft the wider public, such as in areas of health and wellbeing.

Over the last ten 15 years, I studiedcognitive and neuronal responses to watching dance and more recently in the practice of acting. I am interested in studying how we perceive and represent the body and its movements, in particular in relation to the performing arts andI am fascinated by the effects dance participation has on the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us.

Dance, for example, is an universal phenomenon with manifold functions. 51Ƶing the cognitive, neuronal, physiological, and pschosocial mechanisms in response to either watching dance or participating in dance can provide us extraordinary theoretical and applied insight into the human brain and behaviour. Understanding how dancers can remember movements, perform them easily in different directions in space, or express certain emotions andevoke them in spectators,can help us to enhance the life and well-being of peoplewith long termphysical and mental issues.

To study the aesthetic perception of dance moves, I use behavioural experiments,qualitative research as well asbrain imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnet stimulation (TMS), see for example www.watchingdance.org. Previously, I have also employed electroencephalography (EEG) to study visuospatial and tactile perception and attention.

Overall, I am intrigued byhow research methods relate to their outcomes - and equally, how specific artistic practices link to artists' works. It is of no surprise that I see the future in interdisciplinary research andthat my current research emphasises neuroscientific measures and subjective experiences.

Where possible, Ibase my researchon embodied practices, hence, I call it 'embodied neuroscience'. See also my personal homepage on.

Recently, with a link to perception and physical activity, my research has further expanded in the fields of food (e.g., Cognitive and behavioural neuroscience of appetite and food choices, psychological, and sensory and physiological influences on appetite and food choices, psychology and ethnography of dietary habits and related contents).

More Information

Funding

GRANTS AWARDED / FUNDED RESEARCH

  • 2021-2022 Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) co-applicant for "Hearing seldom heard groups: Policing with empathy in conversation with LGBT and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds." Project leader J. Moir. £ 13107
  • 2021 Research & Knwoledge Exchange by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). Project leader for "Kinaesthetic cognition in people with Parkinson's" £4463
  • 2017-2019 Carasso Fondation (France)in collaboration with Fabrique Autonomes des Acteurs (project leader) and University of Rennes € 127’550.
  • 2018 ERASMUS Research Exchange to Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience. £ 3700
  • 2013-2014 Labex Arts-H2H (France). Project leader A. Bachrach. € 43’869 (2013); total (3 years) € 157’520 (yearly re-submission required).
  • 2012 Santander fund (UK)£ 2’000.
  • 2011 Pump Priming fund (UK) University of Surrey,£ 6’000.
  • 2008 Rebekka Skelton Foundation (UK)£ 600.
  • 2004-2006 Research Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) CHF 94’800.
  • 1997-1998 German Association for Academic Exchange (DAAD) 12’000 DM.

Knowledge Exchange

REVIEWER

I act as a reviewer for the following journals:
Advances in Integrative Medicine; Consciousness and Cognition; Dance Research; Development Psychology; Experimental Brain Research; Frontiers in Psychology; Frontiers in Neuroscience; Journal of Cognitive Psychology; Journal of Dance, Medicine and Science; Journal of Psychology, Creativity and the Arts; Neural Plasticity; Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences; Psychonomic Bulletin & Review; Review for Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport; Scientific Reports; and Techné: Research in Philosophy & Technology.

PARTNERSHIPS/NETWORKS

I am the representative of 51Ƶ in the Dundee Dance Partnership () and initiated the Open Dance Dundee Network () of which I am still an active member.

Outreach

Outreach

My interdisciplinary research on dance, cognition, health and transparent research practices has led to public dialogues and stakeholder engagement across the sciences, the arts, and the justice system, such as:

Media and Public Recognition

  • Interviews featured in STV News, The New York Times, Radio Berlin-Brandenburg and Radio Austria
  • News Reports covered in The Courier, Herald Scotland & Evening Times, Dance Magazine US, British Neuroscience Bulletin, The Scientist
  • Documentary Film by French-Taiwanese Coproduction on Brain and the power of movement ( version in Taiwanese)

Science–Art Integration

  • Choreographic works informed by neuroscience (see: )
  • Film Co-director “High Winds/Slippery Surfaces” selected for screening at 17 festivals/exhibits internationally, incl. Royal Scottish Academy, 2021-23
  • Poster exhibition Dundee City Centre for Dundee Dance Partnership, 2018
  • Interactive dance Installation co-creator "Everybody Moves" at Dundee Park Festival (Scottish Dance Theatre), 2014-2016

Workshops and Community Events

  • UKRN Local Network Leads Summer retreat: workshop on sharing best practices on co-developing strategies for open reproducible research across institutions, London School of Economics, 2025
  • Dance and Wellbeing workshop at Festival of the Future, Dundee University, 2023
  • Interactive Service Design workshop at Articulate Hub Glasgow, 2022
  • STEM Week Class, Fintry Primary School, Dundee, 2023

Stakeholder and Policy Engagement

  • Speaker at Brain Health Art meeting by the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium, 2025
  • Presenter at Police Public Impact Event by Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) and Scottish Police Authority on Policing with Empathy, 2023
  • Contributor at UKRN Stakeholder event on materials transparency (Nature Publishing London, 2025)
  • Discussant at Scottish Government physical activity and sport social prescribing framework, 2019

Round Tables and Panels

  • Neuroscience Meets Dance in Therapy Conference, Panel member, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, 2024
  • Meta-Academy Round Table with Nancy Stark Smith and William Seeley, 2013

Scientific presentations and other interviews that are freely accessible online:

  • Presentation in Paris (starts in French but I present in English), spring 2014:- Centre de Recherches sur les arts et le langage, "Le sensible à l'oeuvre : savoir du corps entre esthétique et neurosciences"
  • : Minded Motion Lab Google Hangout with Nancy Stark Smith, Corinne Jola and William Seeley
  • Presentation in London, Autumn 2013:

Meet the rest of the team

Professor Stefano De Paoli

Professor Stefano De Paoli

Department of Sociological and Psychological Sciences | Professor of Digital Society

View profile

Dr Rebecca Sharman

Dr Rebecca Sharman

Department of Sociological and Psychological Sciences | Lecturer

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