Viola Spolin: Games as a Means toward Flow, Empathy, and Finding One’s Truer Self

Abstract

Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi's flow, mirror neurons and the mirror system, and Antonio Damasio and V.S. Ramachandran's neuroscience held up against Viola Spolin's theories on the effects her improv games have on the mind. Spolin's concepts of a true self and outward focus or point of concentration lay the groundwork for a new theory on improv's effects on consciousness and cognition.