A simți fără a înțelege. Răspunsuri empatice rapide și preverbale la stimuli actoricești non-narativi

Ruxandra Coman

doi:10.46522/CT.2025.02.11

Authors

Ruxandra Coman “George Emil Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu-Mureș

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46522/CT.2025.02.11

Keywords:

affective processing, embodied cognition, empathy, theatre spectatorship, non-narrative performance

Abstract

Feeling Without Understanding. Rapid and Preverbal Empathic Responses to Non-Narrative Acting Stimuli
Non-narrative performance can affect spectators before they formulate a stable explanation of what is occurring on stage. This theoretical synthesis brings together research on emotion, empathy, embodied cognition, theatrical spectatorship, and live audience response. Rapid reactions to posture, biological motion, facial movement, gaze, nonverbal vocalization, breathing, rhythm, and spatial proximity are treated as integrated processes rather than as isolated signs. Affective empathy is distinguished from cognitive empathy, emotional contagion, physiological arousal, and motor resonance, while the term preverbal is used functionally to describe an experience that precedes explicit verbal formulation, not one that is devoid of cognition. The expression “primary empathic mechanism” is proposed as a heuristic model comprising four overlapping operations: sensory salience, bodily preparation, initial affective appraisal, and orientation toward another person. The model does not designate a single neural module and cannot be inferred from one facial, motor, or physiological indicator. Context, previous experience, concepts of emotion, theatrical convention, and the reactions of the surrounding audience can shape even very early perception. Non-narrative performance may therefore produce genuine emotional involvement without eliminating interpretation; feeling and understanding develop at different, partially overlapping rhythms.

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