Weaving human connection through science and art at the ARISA Foundation – A Research Recap of the last two years!

In an increasingly digital, globalized, and algorithmically driven world, one thing remains clear: humans are wired for connection. We seek it in museums and movements, in mirrored gazes and synchronized gestures, in digital interfaces and handmade artworks. Over the past two years, ARISA’s research has aimed to understand the art and science behind human connections—especially how art, technology, culture, and embodiment shape the way we feel, think, and relate to one another. 

At its core, our work explores the many contexts in which we encounter art—physically, digitally, individually, or socially. In museums and on screens, aesthetic experiences unfold differently, not just because of the art, but because of who we are, where we are, and how we engage. Our studies at the Zapurza Museum1, as well as at the Barnes Foundation and Penn Museum2 with collaborators from the Penn Center of Neuroaesthetics revealed that while emotional and cognitive impacts are similar whether art is viewed in person or digitally, museums foster deeper understanding. The digital realm is not lacking—it simply requires new ways of thinking about learning, engagement, and inclusion. 

The same lens extends into dance—a field where movement becomes meaning. Dance is not just performance; it’s perception, cognition, and co-regulation. But for all its expressive power, dance science struggles with a lack of methodological clarity. In our recent interdisciplinary and collaborative work3,4 with researchers from across the world (UCL, PCfN, MPIEA, Macquarie University), we advocate for standardized, inclusive approaches to studying dance through neuroscience. Our findings5 (in collaboration with researchers from Goldsmith’s, University of London and ETH Zurich) show that synchronized movement and mutual gaze between dancers significantly affect how observers perceive the duo—not only as more aesthetically pleasing, but as more socially connected. Our results reinforce something deeply human: moving in rhythm with others, and making eye contact while doing so, fosters connection, trust, and joy.  

But what happens when the dancers aren’t human? Our experiments6 on robotic and AI-generated dance reveal a new kind of aesthetic logic—one shaped not just by form and flow, but by belief. People prefer robot agents when they believe the choreography is computer-generated, and human dancers when they believe it’s human-created. The choreography itself doesn't change—but our perceptions do. These findings show how expectations and beliefs about origin, authorship, and animacy influence our aesthetic judgments in the age of AI. It isn’t just what we see, but what we believe we’re seeing that shapes our experience. 

Art also offers healing. In collaboration with researchers at PCfN, NICoE, NEA and military personnel experiencing post-traumatic stress7, our study explored how mask-making when used as a therapeutic intervention impacted post-traumatic stress symptoms. Military personnel transformed papier-mâché masks across an eight-session protocol. Viewers, unaware of which masks were created first or last, consistently identified earlier masks as more distressed and later masks as more calm and pleasant. This suggests that emotional transformation through art is not only deeply personal, but also perceptible to others. The implications extend to clinical care, reminding us of the power of non-verbal, symbolic expression in trauma recovery. 

Culture, of course, frames all these experiences. In our cross-cultural research8, we found that providing contextual information about artworks—about the artist, the medium, or the process—enhanced appreciation and reduced bias, especially among viewers unfamiliar with the culture of origin. These findings underscore art’s potential to be a quiet but powerful force for connection. With the right context, art can dissolve boundaries and open doors to new perspectives. 

But context doesn’t only apply to how we consume art—it also shapes how young people imagine their futures. At ARISA, in collaboration with BJS, we’re currently developing a data-driven, holistic career counseling tool designed for students across India9. This assessment goes beyond aptitude, incorporating personality, interest, motivation, and resilience. It’s built to empower students to make informed, self-aware choices—ones aligned not just with skill, but with joy and identity. Much like our aesthetic research, this student assessment programme initiative asks: what happens when young people see themselves more clearly, in context? 

That question is also central to our ongoing project documenting Pune’s artistic legacy, supported by the India Foundation for the Arts10. Through this initiative, we’re capturing the histories of artists, artisans, and cultural collectives that have shaped the city’s art scene. These narratives are not just historical—they’re sensory, emotional, and embodied. They reveal how collective memory is carried not only in archives, but in brushstrokes, clay, and rhythm. And they ask us to consider: how does a city remember itself through art? 

All of this, of course, must be studied ethically. In our collaborative work on open science11 and civility12, we stress that inclusion isn’t only about access to data—it's about creating spaces where diverse voices can thrive. Our feminist science perspective (with the Feminist Wonderlab) emphasizes that psychological research must not only study the world but also reflect on how it does so. Working in a feminist way means inviting marginalized voices, challenging dominant narratives, and ensuring that our methods are as humane as our goals. 

These values come to life most clearly when research is done with communities, not just on them. In semi-urban communities in India, for instance, technology and empathy intersected in our deployment of a social robot named WallBo (in collaboration with Nandadeep School and researchers at the University of Glasgow). Through play and interaction, WallBo helped improve hygiene practices among children—demonstrating that behavior change can emerge from unexpected allies, including machines designed with care. Just as importantly, the project embodied open science in its truest sense: listening to local communities, building trust, and adapting design based on lived experience. Because research should not only be replicable—it should be relational. 

Across all these studies lies a unifying question: How can art and science help us understand what makes us human? Whether we are watching dancers on a stage, robots on a screen, or artists creating through trauma—our brains are constantly decoding, connecting, and creating meaning. And when research is done with care, inclusion, and creativity, it doesn’t just answer questions—it tells a story. 

A story of connection. A story of understanding. A story of us. 

As we look ahead, ARISA continues to explore new questions: How do aesthetic preferences evolve across the lifespan? Can physiological synchrony—like shared heartbeats—foster deeper empathy? How can multisensory, embodied art experiences promote wellbeing in urban lives? What does it mean to explore not only what people like, but what truly moves them? 

We’re building a future where art and science don’t just reflect humanity—together, they deepen it. 

-Dr. Kohinoor Darda Founder-Director, ARISA Foundation 

References 

1. ARISA Foundation. (in preparation). Understanding digital vs. physical art engagement in museum settings: A study at the Zapurza Museum of Art and Culture. 

2. Darda, K. M., Estrada Gonzalez, V., Christensen, A. P., Bobrow, I., Krimm, A., Nasim, Z., Cardillo, E. R., Perthes, W., & Chatterjee, A. (2025, March 15). A comparison of art engagement in museums and through digital media. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 8972. 

3. Orlandi, A., Darda, K. M., Calvo-Merino, B., & Cross, E. S. (2025). Methods in cognitive neuroscience: Dance movement 2023. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 18, 1542595. 

4. Meletaki, V., Christensen, J. F., Darda, K. M., Rai, L., & Orlandi, A. (in preparation). Neurocognition of dance 2.0: Guidelines for refining research questions, designs and methods. 

5. Cross, E. S., Darda, K. M., Moffat, R., Muñoz, L., Humphries, S., & Kirsch, L. P. (2024). Mutual gaze and movement synchrony boost observers’ enjoyment and perception of togetherness when watching dance duets. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 24004. 

6. Darda, K. M., Maiwald, A., Raghuram, T., & Cross, E. S. (2024). Dancing robots: Aesthetic engagement is shaped by stimulus and knowledge cues to human animacy. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 18, 1413066. 

7. Estrada Gonzalez, V., Meletaki, V., Walker, M., Payano Sosa, J., Stamper, A., Srikanchana, R., ... & Chatterjee, A. (2024). Art therapy masks reflect emotional changes in military personnel with PTSS. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 7192. 

8. Darda, K. M., & Chatterjee, A. (2024). Cross-cultural aesthetics: Aesthetic contextualism and ingroup bias. Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, 47(3), 120–140. 

9. ARISA Foundation. (in preparation). Developing a holistic student assessment tool for career counseling in India. 

10. ARISA Foundation. (in preparation). Creation, connection, and community in Pune’s artistic legacy: Memories of the past and visions for the future. 

11. Hartmann, H., Darda, K. M., Meletaki, V., Ilchovska, Z., Corral-Frías, N. S., Hofer, G., ... & Sauvé, S. (2024). Incorporating feminist practices into (psychological) science—the why, the what and the how. (under review) 

12. Darda, K. M., Conry-Murray, C., Schmidt, K., Elsherif, M., Peverill, M., Yoneda, T., ... & Gernsbacher, M. A. (2023). Promoting civility in formal and informal open science contexts. (under review)