26isfam096 10.3205/26isfam096 urn:nbn:de:0183-26isfam0967 Meeting Abstract Keisari Keisari Shoshi S

School of Creative Arts Therapies University of Haifa

author German Medical Science GMS Publishing House

Düsseldorf

610 20260612 engl This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). M0652 096 International Society for Arts and Medicine The Healing Arts – Forging Alliances of Arts & Medicine Presentation Abstracts Berlin 20260618 20260620 26isfam096 TextPlayful interaction stands at the heart of shared artistic processes, grounded in spontaneity, creativity, imagination, and shared experience. It allows participants to step outside their routine roles and predictable patterns to co-create something new together. This presentation focuses on playful interactions in drama, dance movement, and visual arts with older adults.In a series of studies with more than 150 older adults, we examined the psychological, cognitive, and neurophysiological effects of different forms of improvised playful interactions: improvised role-play and dramatic enactment, movement improvisation, and shared improvised drawing through squiggle games. Findings show that playful interactions enhance cognitive functioning in working memory, word fluency, and response time, compared with a non-playful control condition. They also enhance positive affect and shared experience.In a complementary fMRI pilot study, playful social interaction was associated with increased hippocampal activation and enhanced fusiform gyrus responses to emotional faces, compared with a non-playful control condition. These preliminary findings suggest that playful interactions in creative arts therapies may support socio-emotional perception and memory in later life by modulating neural systems involved in face processing and memory encoding.We propose that playful interactions balance spontaneity, unpredictability, and reciprocity, engaging neurobiological mechanisms that support cognitive functioning in later life. These findings underscore the importance of playful interactions in the creative arts therapies and arts-based interventions for older adults. 0 0 0 0