Chapter 3.2

Character Gesture and the Brain

Istvan Molnar-Szakacs and Dr. Marco Iacoboni examine the relationship between gesture and culture using a specific type of brain cell known as a "mirror neuron".

According to the article, these neurons "fire not only when an individual performs a particular action but also when he or she watches another individual perform that same action. Neuroscientists believe this "mirroring" is the mechanism by which we can read the minds of others and empathize with them."
By measuring brain activity, the scientists found that American subjects showed higher responsiveness to American, Nicaraguan or completely meaningless gestures when performed by an American as opposed to the same gestures when performed by a Nicaraguan. In other words, Americans are programmed to respond more to their own cultural or ethnic "in-group", leading the scientists to summarise that "our brain mirrors people, not actions".
Since the perceived culture of the performer affects our interpretation of gestures, there is a cultural component to gesture. The strength of this connection is still unclear from the article I read, but would determine the impact on animation as it becomes an increasingly cross-cultural medium.

PBS Nova Evolution Episode 6

"The Mind's Big Bang" Documentary

According to the video, although modern humans evolved 100,000 years ago, starting about 50,000 years ago there were dramatic changes in the technology and culture of humans that eventually led to our dominance of the planet.

The video links "The Mind's Big Bang" to man's tendency towards increasingly complex communication and social interaction strategies. Thus, this period witnessed the birth of art and culture, including primitive beads and cave painting.

One of the examples is the case of deaf children in Managua , Nicaragua . These children spontaneously came up with a complex series of gestures for communication.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Sign_Language

The development is pretty remarkable and it is relevant to our research because it establishes that gesture is not necessarily only a secondary element of communication (after speech), but can take over the entire function of transmitting information among individuals in complex interactions. In turn, this observation reinforces the widespread animation practice of animating poses and body movement first, before moving on to facial expressions, as well the importance of silhouettes.

Also, the video talks about "meems" or cultural transmission through imitation, and it appears that the Nicaraguan Sign Language is an example of this phenomenon. Consequently, one would expect that there is a strong culturally-specific aspect to gestures.

And keeping with sign language, in the video above a group a people have come together to create music videos in sign language, which in a way does add more emotions to the song and I found myself more connected to than I did when I saw the real music video.

Continue to Chapter 3.3 Character Motion Systems