Art and Gist

December 15th, 2006 Fred McVittie

Brainerd and Reyna propose a process for the relationship between knowledge and memory which they refer to as the ‘fuzzy trace’. This concept identifies a cognitive structure in the brain which is formed by repeated exposure to, and education about, specific experiences. So, for example, the experience of learning to drive a car, and of repeated driving behaviours, will create a mental schema or ‘trace’ of this behaviour. Similarly, repeated exposure to art, and education about art, will create a ‘trace’ of this art. This fuzzy trace is a kind of abstraction of all of the experiences, and represents the core, crystallised knowledge about the subject, and all of the individual experiences can be seen as ‘instances’ of this trace, (and I realise I am mixing metaphors wildly here). Significantly, this trace, or ‘gist’ as Brainerd and Reyna more colloquially call it, is then mobilised when new, related, experiences are encountered. So when driving a car, our moment by moment experience is referred to the existing ‘gist’, and this referring affects our actions and behaviour. Similarly, when we experience a new work of art, this experience is evaluated and understood in reference to our existing ‘gist’, and this referring produces the (critical) action and behaviour we have with regard to this artwork. This process works entirely subconsciously, and we do not think rationally prior to making a response or producing an action. Instead we get a feeling of ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’; an intuition about the experience which guides our behaviour.

Posted in Art, Brainerd, C. J. & Reyna, V. F., Fuzzy trace, Gist, Schema | No Comments »

Combinatory Schema and Embodied Metaphor

December 27th, 2006 Fred McVittie

Complex behaviour often entails the mobilisation of a number of physical schema simultaneously, as for example when one is walking and juggling at the same time, or, more commonly, when one is talking and also physically displaying emotion through smiling, crying etc. The combination of such schema, which may be seen as complementary or competing, contributes to the overall performance which is taking place. On a cognitive level, this combination suggests that several ‘gists’ (fuzzy traces, scripts, schemata etc) are also in operation simultaneously, all of which are constructed through metaphor.

Posted in Cognition, Gist, Metaphor | No Comments »

Gist and the Organisation of Proprioception

December 28th, 2006 Fred McVittie

Non-conscious schema, or physical ‘gists’, display themselves as organised proprioceptive sets which inflect behaviour. Performance may be enhanced by the adopting of such a physical gist when this gist organises the proprioception in ways which correspond to the required goals of the performance. This organisation is likely to operate across a large number of different variables and to make detailed alteration to actions.

Posted in Gist, Performance, Proprioception | No Comments »

Acting the Subtext - Chekhov and Gist

December 30th, 2006 Fred McVittie

The rehearsal technique known as ‘acting the subtext’ is a method for developing, in an embodied fashion, the physical schema articulating the competing or complementing psychological sense present in a performance. In this technique, the subtextual ‘gist’ of a scene is made physically available such that gestures, actions, etc might be constructed appropriate to this gist. This gist is then available as a non-conscious schema or trace which might then inflect the overt schema representing the surface text. One example of a technique which utilises this combination of schema is the ‘psychological gesture’ of Michael Chekhov.

Posted in Acting, Chekhov, Michael, Gesture, Gist, Schema | No Comments »

Abstract Competence

January 4th, 2007 Fred McVittie

Any sufficiently complex skill or body of knowledge entails not only accumulating the various physical routines or academic facts associated with that skill or knowledge, but also the construction of a consilient ‘body’ of knowledge which give form and structure to those routines or facts. In this sense it functions not as a disconnected set of multiple items of data but as a single dynamic abstract competency. This body of knowledge allows not only the playing out of rote data, but also the intelligent and flexible responses which we associate with more complex knowing. The structure of this body of knowledge is variously referred to as a gist, schema, script, frame, etc.

A simple example of an abstract competency is the ability to play football. Playing the game well, or in fact at all, is impossible if one is only able to reproduce specific learned moves by rote. Competence in football demands an abstract understanding of the game as a whole such that flexible responses can be made to the constantly changing state of play. It is important to note that once such competence is available it is unlikely that it will present itself to the consciousness of the player as rational advice on what particular move may be appropriate at any one time. It is more likely that the player will experience such competence as the working of intuition and feeling, a particular move should simply ‘feel right’.

When applied to a non-physical academic field such as the appreciation of art, such competence would manifest itself as an aesthetic response which may or may not be fully available to analysis.

Posted in Gist, Intuition, Performance | No Comments »

Effects of Multiple Schema in Performance

January 13th, 2007 Fred McVittie

The ‘gist’ or schema associated (possibly metaphorically) with a physical behaviour organises the proprioception involved in the carrying out of that behaviour, particularly taking care of the details. Sometimes different schema can be mobilised simultaneously, as when we are required to perform two tasks at once, or when we conceive (consciously or unconsciously) of a single task as being composed of two other tasks, (as for example when we learn to dance ‘the twist’ be imagining drying our back with a towel whilst grinding out a cigarette end under a foot). It is likely that, in addition to such potentially useful or complementary schema, there are also occasions when competing or conflicting schema are operating simultaneously, which would negatively affect the carrying out of the desired action. This may be evidenced in theatrical performance contexts when a nervous actor may be operating a ‘hide’ schema alongside other behaviours.

Posted in Gist, Performance, Proprioception, Schema | No Comments »