University Honors

Dance offers benefits beyond physical movement, requiring the integration of visual input, auditory cues, mindñbody coordination, and long-term memory recall. However, its influence on cognitive processes, particularly visual working memory (VWM), remains under-explored. VWM is essential for processing and retaining visual information, playing a key role in learning and decision-making. Additionally, dance also supports emotional states by providing an outlet for stress, a major disruptor of VWM. Thus, this study examines VWM performance through dancers and non-dancers. Additionally, exploratory analyses considered whether anxietyís negative effects on VWM were dampened in dancers. Participants completed a dance history questionnaire, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 item scale (GAD-7), and a Dot Matrix Task for VWM. Preliminary analyses showed no significant difference in memory performance between dancers and non-dancers; however, there are hints of a potential correlation. When examining years of dance, a moderate significance was found. Participants with 4 years or more of experience had better VWM compared to those with less experience. Exploratory results showed that being a dancer significantly moderated anxietyís impact on recall error; higher levels of anxiety did not predict higher recall error in the dancer group as they did in the non-dancer group. Data collection is ongoing, and a larger sample size is being pursued to more accurately determine whether observed patterns reflect a meaningful relationship or confirm null effects. By examining both cognitive outcomes and stress-related measures, this study aims to clarify how embodied movement and emotional state may jointly contribute to individual differences in memory ability.