This is the first volume to provide a detailed introduction to some of the main areas of research and practice in the interdisciplinary field of art and neuroscience. With contributions from neuroscientists, theatre scholars and artists from seven countries, it offers a rich and rigorous array of perspectives as a springboard to further exploration. Divided into four parts, each prefaced by an expert editorial introduction, it examines:

* Theatre as a space of relationships: a neurocognitive perspective
* The spectator's performative experience and 'embodied theatrology'
* The complexity of theatre and human cognition
* Interdisciplinary perspectives on applied performance

Each part includes contributions from international pioneers of interdisciplinarity in theatre scholarship, and from neuroscientists of world-renown researching the physiology of action, the mirror neuron mechanism, action perception, space perception, empathy and intersubjectivity.

While illustrating the remarkable growth of interest in the performing arts for cognitive neuroscience, this volume also reveals the extraordinary richness of exchange and debate born out of different approaches to the topics.

Clelia Falletti is Associate Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Since 1981 she has participated in research by ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology) directed by Eugenio Barba; she is dramaturg for Teatro Potlach, and co-editor of theatre books series with two Italian publishing houses.
Gabriele Sofia teaches theatre studies and physical theatre at Paul Valéry University, Montpellier, France. Since 2006 he has carried out an interdisciplinary research project on the neurophysiology of the actor and the spectator between the Sapienza University of Rome and the Maisons des Sciences de l'Homme Paris Nord. From 2009 to 2013 he promoted and organized five editions of the International Conference “Dialogues between Theatre and Neuroscience” at Sapienza.
Victor Jacono, PhD in Performance Studies, teaches at the MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts and Drama at the Alternative Learning Program, Malta.