Cognitive science approaches to actor training: Interrogating conceptual language

摘要

This thesis explores the ways in which the fields of neurobiology and cognitive science impact concepts of performer processes, and how the findings of this research can help actors and actor trainers to examine assumptions that inform how they frame and describe performer practices. Cognitive science research provides a precise understanding of the embodied processes of "self", "consciousness", "emotion" and "perceiving", and I argue that it is productive to interrogate these terms as they pertain to descriptions of the actor's practice and performer training.;In this thesis I describe the relevance of cognitive science findings to theatre with respect to concepts commonly advanced in actor training in the United States, namely the "self," "truth," and "authentic." I offer a reconsideration of these concepts through a cognitive science lens that opens up possibilities for emerging dramatic and performance paradigms. I then propose the development of a "corporeal intelligence," that enables an actor to propose gestures, movement, vocal strategies, and action.