• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.37
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• pp.365-389
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• 2018

This research aims to study Michael Chekhov's acting techniques scientifically, because his techniques has been studied only theoretically or empirically. Especially, this study focuses on 'imagination' and 'Psychological Gesture' from the perspective of cognitive psychology. Chekhov thought 'imagination' as the basis and core of all the works of acting. In cognitive psychology, it is called as 'imagery' and means 'a representation of the mind of the object not communicated by the sensory organs currently'. This study starts with defining imagery and takes a brief look at the features and kinds of imagery. Then the researcher will prove scientifically the possibility of training acting using imagery as Chekhov's assertion. For the proof of the validity of imagery, we'll look for the theoretical evidences-functional equivalence hypothesis, psychoneuromuscular theory, symbolic learning theory, psychophygiological information processing-and experimental ones-measurements of cerebral blood flow or event-related potential, experiments with fMRI(functional magnetic resonance imaging) or PET(positron emission tomography). As a result, we can see that imagery is functionally identical to perception and improves fulfillment of cognitive and physical tasks. As proving physical changes can draw out psychological changes(feeling) on the medium of imagery, we can also see the validity of Psychological Gesture. From the above research, even if Chekhov developed the acting techniques only on the basis of his experience, his techniques can be thought as having scientific validity. Though insufficient, this study can be a help for actors or students as they using Chekhov's techniques.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.555-571
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• 2009

This study investigated whether contexts could influence the speed of mental rotation. Experiment 1 investigated whether the angle of neighboring letters influenced the recognition of the target letter. Reaction time of target recognition increased linearly, as angular differences between the angle of the target letter and that of neighboring letters increased. Moreover, this trend was more pronounced when the target and neighboring letters made a word as compared to when they did not. Experiment 2 examined the effects of practice difficulty on mental rotation. Reaction time again increased linearly with the degree of angular rotation. However, there were no significant differences between the easy and the difficult conditions. These results suggest that contextual information is important in mental rotation.