The cognitive and socioemotional effects of a short-term light painting intervention

Abstract

We investigated the cognitive and socioemotional effects of a light painting intervention, which is a new type of creative arts therapy. Participants were 60 university students, 30 of whom were assigned to the light painting (LP) group and attended 5 light painting sessions for 1 hour every other day, and 30 of whom were assigned to the control group and engaged in classroom self-study on the same schedule. Both groups completed a spatial orientation task and the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule before and after the intervention. Compared to the control group, the LP group showed significant improvement in speed of performing the spatial orientation task. Moreover, the LP group reported increases in imagination, creativity, emotional and mental health, and social skills. Our findings provide preliminary empirical evidence supporting the positive effect of LP in some cognitive and socioemotional domains, and indicate that LP could be a promising creative arts therapy intervention for treating psychiatric disorders.