Papers by Catherine E Deans
Synthese, Apr 1, 2022
In exploring skilled performance in Contact Improvisation (CI), we utilize an enactive ethnograph... more In exploring skilled performance in Contact Improvisation (CI), we utilize an enactive ethnographic methodology combined with an interdisciplinary approach to examine the question of how skill develops in CI. We suggest this involves the development of subtleties of awareness of intra-and interkinaesthetic attunement, and a capacity for interkinaesthetic negative capability-an embodied interpersonal 'not knowing yet'-including an ease with being off balance and waiting for the next shift or movement to arise, literally a 'playing with' balance, falling, nearly falling, momentum and gravity. We draw on insights from an interdisciplinary approach, including from a developmental perspective concerning the experience of dyadic interpersonal embodied skill development in both infancy and CI. Building on Ravn and Høffding's (2021) definition of expertise in improvisation as an "oscillatory process of assuming and relinquishing agency" we propose that a key aspect of expertise in CI involves oscillation between levels and processes of interkinaesthetic sense of agency. These interdisciplinary insights also elucidate limitations within current conceptualisations of sense of agency, including the relationship between sense of agency and sense of control.
Synthese
In exploring skilled performance in Contact Improvisation (CI), we utilize an enactive ethnograph... more In exploring skilled performance in Contact Improvisation (CI), we utilize an enactive ethnographic methodology combined with an interdisciplinary approach to examine the question of how skill develops in CI. We suggest this involves the development of subtleties of awareness of intra- and interkinaesthetic attunement, and a capacity for interkinaesthetic negative capability—an embodied interpersonal ‘not knowing yet’—including an ease with being off balance and waiting for the next shift or movement to arise, literally a ‘playing with’ balance, falling, nearly falling, momentum and gravity. We draw on insights from an interdisciplinary approach, including from a developmental perspective concerning the experience of dyadic interpersonal embodied skill development in both infancy and CI. Building on Ravn and Høffding’s (2021) definition of expertise in improvisation as an “oscillatory process of assuming and relinquishing agency” we propose that a key aspect of expertise in CI invol...
Performance Research, 2021
Dance as a complex human activity is a rich test case for exploring perception in action. In this... more Dance as a complex human activity is a rich test case for exploring perception in action. In this article, we explore a 4E approach to perception/action in dance, focussing on the intersubjective and ecological aspects of kinaesthetic attunement and their capacity to expand empathic and perceptive experience. We examine the question: what are the ways in which the performance ecology co-created in different dance practices influences empathic and perceptive experience? We adopt an enactive ethnographic and phenomenological approach to explore two distinct dance forms: Contact Improvisation [CI], a duet-system based practice aimed at fostering interkinaesthetic awareness and challenging habits of movement; and Body Weather [BW], an anti-hierarchical movement practice sensitive to the surrounding environment. We argue that through intersubjective kinaesthetic attunement, CI scaffolds the development of perceptive awareness of subtle shifts within ourselves and others, allowing the cultivation of a capacity for flexibly traversing between conscious initiation of action, attuned responding, and the intersection between them. Similarly, we investigate the expansion of perceptive experience through kinaesthetic attunement in BW. We suggest that the capacity for empathy is enhanced in BW through drawing attention to, and perception of, the fullness of a place in a way that we do not typically experience. By focussing on the variations in which embodied perceptual skills are enacted in specific dance forms and the expansion of perceptive experience through kinaesthetic attunement, we stress the potential of the performing arts to cultivate and create new ways of empathic engagement with the world in which we find ourselves.
Synthese, 2022
In exploring skilled performance in Contact Improvisation (CI), we utilize an enactive ethnograph... more In exploring skilled performance in Contact Improvisation (CI), we utilize an enactive ethnographic methodology combined with an interdisciplinary approach to examine the question of how skill develops in CI. We suggest this involves the development of subtleties of awareness in intra- and inter-kinaesthetic attunement, and a capacity for kinaesthetic negative capability – an embodied ‘not knowing yet’ - including an ease with being off balance and waiting for the next shift or movement to arise, literally a ‘playing with’ balance, falling, nearly falling, momentum and gravity. We draw on insights from an interdisciplinary approach, including from a developmental perspective concerning the experience of dyadic interpersonal embodied skill development in both infancy and CI, and we suggest that a key aspect of skill development in both contexts involves an interkinaesthetic sense of agency. These interdisciplinary insights also elucidate limitations within current conceptualisations of sense of agency, including the relationship between sense of agency and sense of control.
PhD Thesis Macquarie University, Examiners included: Peter Fonagy, Shaun Gallagher, Jan Slaby, 2019
From button presses to loss of volition in depression, delusions of control in schizophrenia and ... more From button presses to loss of volition in depression, delusions of control in schizophrenia and anarchic hand syndrome, sense of agency has been related to a wide range of clinical and everyday phenomena. Does this concept—sense of agency—really have such a broad scope? In this thesis, I argue that it does. I suggest underlying commonalities and differences that need to be clarified if cross disciplinary discussions are to be fruitful. I also suggest ways of conceptualising implicit sense of agency and the relationship between reflective and pre- reflective forms, which are more closely aligned with clinical experiences of diminished sense of agency. Having established the broad scope of this complex construct, I suggest that whilst sense of agency research has proliferated in recent years—particularly in the fields of cognitive science, philosophy of mind and neuroscience—this fascinating work often neglects the interpersonal and emotional aspects of this concept. It is only recently that such aspects have begun to be included both empirically and theoretically. Focusing on the interpersonal and emotional aspects of sense of agency, I offer an account of its development in infancy, highlighting the interpersonal, embodied nature of intention formation and early experiences of contingency between actions and their effects. I explore the ramifications of this developmental account for adult experience of sense of agency, suggesting that the interpersonal and emotional aspects of the construct extend right down to the level of motor processes. I examine this way of approaching the concept in light of what it can reveal about diminished sense of agency in depression.
We argue that a sense of agency has interpersonal origins and arises from a contingent coupling o... more We argue that a sense of agency has interpersonal origins and arises from a contingent coupling of the self and the social and material world. This perspective has implications for the assessment and conceptualization of a sense of agency in the empirical literature. We explore the development of a sense of agency as, in part, an implicit, embodied assumption that arises through the child's experience of "good-enough" contingent responsiveness from caregivers. We contend that a caregiver's capacity for audience uptake and access to a full range of feelings, coupled with the scaffolding of an infant's attempts at creating contingency in his or her environment, will affect the development of a sense of agency. Presenting the experience of infants in neonatal intensive care as an example, we raise a series of questions about the development of a sense of agency in an atypical early environment in which opportunities for interpersonal contingency may be limited.
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2013
A pre-post-assessment of alcohol information recorded in computerised patient information systems... more A pre-post-assessment of alcohol information recorded in computerised patient information systems of four ACCHSs. Results. For ACCHSs combined there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of eligible clients with an electronic record of any alcohol information (3.2% to 7.5%, P < 0.0001) and a valid alcohol screen (1.6% to 6.5%, P < 0.0001), and brief intervention (25.75% to 47.7%, P < 0.0001). All four ACCHSs achieved statistically significant increases in the proportion of clients with a complete alcohol screen (10.3%; 7.4%; 2%, P < 0.0001 and 1.3%, P < 0.05), and two in the proportion with a heavy drinking screen (7% and 3.1%, P < 0.0001). Discussion and Conclusions. Implementing evidence-based alcohol SBI in ACCHSs is likely to require multiple strategies tailored to the characteristics of specific services. Outreach support provided by local drug and alcohol practitioners and a one item heavy drinking screen offer considerable promise for increasing routine alcohol SBI delivery in ACCHSs. Training and outreach support appear to be effective for achieving modest improvements in alcohol SBI delivery in ACCHSs. [Clifford A, Shakeshaft A, Deans C. Training and tailored outreach support to improve alcohol screening and brief intervention in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services. Drug Alcohol Rev 2013;32:72-79]
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2012
Indigenous Australians experience a disproportionately high burden of alcohol-related harm. Alcoh... more Indigenous Australians experience a disproportionately high burden of alcohol-related harm. Alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) offers the potential to reduce this harm if barriers to its delivery in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) can be optimally targeted. . Examine health-care practitioners&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; perceptions of, and practices in, alcohol SBI in ACCHSs. Semi-structured group interviews with 37 purposively selected health staff across five ACCHSs. Alcohol screening independent of standard health assessments was generally selective. The provision of brief intervention was dependent upon factors related to the patient. Four key factors underlying health-care practitioners&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; perceptions of alcohol SBI were prominent: outcome expectancy; role congruence; utilisation of clinical systems and processes; and options for alcohol referral. Discussion. The influence of outcome expectancy and role congruence on health-care practitioners&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; alcohol SBI practices has been identified previously, as has to a lesser extent, their less than optimal use of clinical systems and processes. The influence of options for alcohol referral on health-care practitioners&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; willingness to deliver alcohol SBI primarily related to their misunderstanding of alcohol SBI and the lack of culturally appropriate alcohol referral options for their patients. An intervention combining interactive, supportive and reinforcing evidence-based dissemination strategies is most likely required to enhance health-care practitioners&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; knowledge and skills in alcohol SBI delivery, positively orientate them to their role in its delivery, and facilitate integration of evidence-based alcohol SBI into routine clinical processes and locally available systems
Conference presentations by Catherine E Deans
Paper presented in poster format at the University of New South Wales Public Health Symposium, the Aboriginal Drug & Alcohol Network Annual Symposium and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre Annual Symposium., 2009
Authored by: Deans, C., Clifford, A., & Shakeshaft, A.
Poster presented at the Marce Society Conference Melbourne., 2013
Authored by: Kasparian N., Deans, C., Barnett, B.E., Winlaw, D., Sholler, G., Kirk, E.
Paper presented at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre Annual Symposium, 2009
Paper presented at the World Congress of Psychotherapy, Sydney, Australia., 2011
Authored by: Kasparian, N.A., Deans, C.E., Bennett, B.K., Sholler, G.F., Winlaw, D.S., Kirk, E.P.
Paper presented at Cambridge University for the British Psychological Society Somatic Consciousness Conference, United Kingdom., 2014
Early events, including the ongoing interaction with caregivers early in life, shape our implicit... more Early events, including the ongoing interaction with caregivers early in life, shape our implicit embodied assumptions about the world in ways that are not yet well understood. We are born far less developed than other species, and while this allows us the advantage of flexible adaptation to the environment in which we find ourselves, it also confers greater importance on this early period. The earlier things go awry, the greater their potential for long-term consequences. If early life experiences are congruent with what is encountered later in life, this may be a more seamless (if still messy) process. However, what about people for whom these unformulated pre- reflective experiences create an implicit assumption that is very much at odds with what they bump up against each day?
Infants born prematurely or with a medical illness commonly experience an atypical early environment, such as a lack of touch and interaction, and painful routine procedures (Grunau, 2002). They form approximately fourteen percent of the population in Australia. There is ample research that demonstrates that these infants go on to have a higher risk of psychopathology later in life, from increased rates of ADHD, anxiety, depression, anorexia and many other disorders, to an increased prevalence of suicide (Lindberg & Hjern, 2003; Lindström, Lindblad, & Hjern, 2009; Patton, Coffey, Carlin, Olsson, & Morley, 2004; Riordan, Selvaraj, Stark, & Gilbert, 2006). Whilst this broad brushstroke understanding of increased risk is evident, the mechanisms by which these experiences confer such risk are not well understood.
Early environments in which infants experience a lack of touch, and a lack of both object based and interpersonal experiences of contingent relations, raises interesting questions about how we come to develop a sense of agency. Agency, the sense that your actions can affect others and objects in the world, is an important dimension of psychological health upon which we all vary, and one hypothesized in this paper to play a key role in the increased risk of subsequent mental health concerns in infants born into neonatal intensive care. In line with Bendit (2011), we argue that implicit memories formed during infancy are pivotal in forming a sense of interpersonal agency.
Our interactional implicit memory is encoded and expressed in the way in which we relate to others through our non-verbal cues, as well as paralinguistic indicators like the prosody, tone and rhythm of speech (Bendit, 2011). This is consistent with the findings of attachment research that it is the manner in which one speaks about relationship, and not the content of what is said, that is most highly predictive of psychological health and the security of attachment relationships with offspring (Main, 1996). However, what this insight from attachment theory lacks is an account of how these paralinguistic cues are located in an embodied context.
This paper seeks to situate the development of agency in an interpersonal context in which audience uptake and receptivity is key to how pre-reflective experience might become available for more conscious capture in mind, and one which incorporates the intertwined nature of mind and body. Taking the experience of infants in neonatal intensive care as a case study, we raise a series of questions: what does an absence of being held during a critical period of development mean from an embodied perspective, and what might be the impact of having one’s expressions of distress met with relatively fewer instances of contingent responsiveness?
Additional publications by Catherine E Deans
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW, Sydney., 2012
Authored by: Vogl, L., Newton, N., Teesson, M., Swift, W., Karageorge, A., Deans, C., et al.
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, 2008
Authored by: Vogl, L., Deans, C., Teesson, M., Vogl, G., Mason, E., Newton, N., et al.
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
Authored by: Deans, C., Vogl, L., Teesson, M., & Mason, E.
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Papers by Catherine E Deans
Conference presentations by Catherine E Deans
Infants born prematurely or with a medical illness commonly experience an atypical early environment, such as a lack of touch and interaction, and painful routine procedures (Grunau, 2002). They form approximately fourteen percent of the population in Australia. There is ample research that demonstrates that these infants go on to have a higher risk of psychopathology later in life, from increased rates of ADHD, anxiety, depression, anorexia and many other disorders, to an increased prevalence of suicide (Lindberg & Hjern, 2003; Lindström, Lindblad, & Hjern, 2009; Patton, Coffey, Carlin, Olsson, & Morley, 2004; Riordan, Selvaraj, Stark, & Gilbert, 2006). Whilst this broad brushstroke understanding of increased risk is evident, the mechanisms by which these experiences confer such risk are not well understood.
Early environments in which infants experience a lack of touch, and a lack of both object based and interpersonal experiences of contingent relations, raises interesting questions about how we come to develop a sense of agency. Agency, the sense that your actions can affect others and objects in the world, is an important dimension of psychological health upon which we all vary, and one hypothesized in this paper to play a key role in the increased risk of subsequent mental health concerns in infants born into neonatal intensive care. In line with Bendit (2011), we argue that implicit memories formed during infancy are pivotal in forming a sense of interpersonal agency.
Our interactional implicit memory is encoded and expressed in the way in which we relate to others through our non-verbal cues, as well as paralinguistic indicators like the prosody, tone and rhythm of speech (Bendit, 2011). This is consistent with the findings of attachment research that it is the manner in which one speaks about relationship, and not the content of what is said, that is most highly predictive of psychological health and the security of attachment relationships with offspring (Main, 1996). However, what this insight from attachment theory lacks is an account of how these paralinguistic cues are located in an embodied context.
This paper seeks to situate the development of agency in an interpersonal context in which audience uptake and receptivity is key to how pre-reflective experience might become available for more conscious capture in mind, and one which incorporates the intertwined nature of mind and body. Taking the experience of infants in neonatal intensive care as a case study, we raise a series of questions: what does an absence of being held during a critical period of development mean from an embodied perspective, and what might be the impact of having one’s expressions of distress met with relatively fewer instances of contingent responsiveness?
Additional publications by Catherine E Deans
Infants born prematurely or with a medical illness commonly experience an atypical early environment, such as a lack of touch and interaction, and painful routine procedures (Grunau, 2002). They form approximately fourteen percent of the population in Australia. There is ample research that demonstrates that these infants go on to have a higher risk of psychopathology later in life, from increased rates of ADHD, anxiety, depression, anorexia and many other disorders, to an increased prevalence of suicide (Lindberg & Hjern, 2003; Lindström, Lindblad, & Hjern, 2009; Patton, Coffey, Carlin, Olsson, & Morley, 2004; Riordan, Selvaraj, Stark, & Gilbert, 2006). Whilst this broad brushstroke understanding of increased risk is evident, the mechanisms by which these experiences confer such risk are not well understood.
Early environments in which infants experience a lack of touch, and a lack of both object based and interpersonal experiences of contingent relations, raises interesting questions about how we come to develop a sense of agency. Agency, the sense that your actions can affect others and objects in the world, is an important dimension of psychological health upon which we all vary, and one hypothesized in this paper to play a key role in the increased risk of subsequent mental health concerns in infants born into neonatal intensive care. In line with Bendit (2011), we argue that implicit memories formed during infancy are pivotal in forming a sense of interpersonal agency.
Our interactional implicit memory is encoded and expressed in the way in which we relate to others through our non-verbal cues, as well as paralinguistic indicators like the prosody, tone and rhythm of speech (Bendit, 2011). This is consistent with the findings of attachment research that it is the manner in which one speaks about relationship, and not the content of what is said, that is most highly predictive of psychological health and the security of attachment relationships with offspring (Main, 1996). However, what this insight from attachment theory lacks is an account of how these paralinguistic cues are located in an embodied context.
This paper seeks to situate the development of agency in an interpersonal context in which audience uptake and receptivity is key to how pre-reflective experience might become available for more conscious capture in mind, and one which incorporates the intertwined nature of mind and body. Taking the experience of infants in neonatal intensive care as a case study, we raise a series of questions: what does an absence of being held during a critical period of development mean from an embodied perspective, and what might be the impact of having one’s expressions of distress met with relatively fewer instances of contingent responsiveness?