Scientific Theatre – the Intelligent Environment for Supporting Human Physical and Mental Health and Well-being

The World Health Organization recognizes that mental and physical health of humans are interconnected affecting each other. While many questions remain concerning the specific mechanisms of these relationships, it is clear that poor mental health plays a significant role in diminished immune functioning, the development of certain illnesses, and premature death. Exploiting the idea that body and mind interact, this paper introduces the concept of Scientific Theatre – the intelligent environment that is capable of therapeutically influencing human health, encouraging healthy lifestyles, preventing aging, and treating certain mental and physical disorders. The paper describes the latest achievements in medical and computer sciences research that allow for an alternative approach to providing and promoting health care. In addition to describing the proposed system, the paper details the ongoing multidisciplinary research that contributes to development of the system. The research studies how performing, imagining, and observing movement can assist in supporting health and treating both mental and physical disorders. It involves a number of methods and techniques from neuroscience, biomechanics, movement therapy, artificial intelligence, and several other areas of research as discussed in the paper.