Where does improvisation emerge in improvisational theater acting? An online discrimination experiment with audiovisual conditions

Abstract

This study empirically examines the perceptual characteristics of theatrical improvisation from the perspective of multisensory integration through an online discrimination task. A total of 216 university students were tasked with distinguishing between improvisational and scripted theater under three sensory conditions: visual-auditory (VA), visual-only (VO), and auditory-only (AO). Binomial tests indicated that discrimination accuracy was significantly above the chance level (50%) in all conditions. Logistic regression analysis revealed no significant differences in accuracy among the three sensory conditions (𝑝 > .05), indicating that each modality alone provided sufficient information to perceive improvisation. Notably, accuracy in the AO condition (83.3%) was comparable to that in the VA condition (81.9%). Ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that confidence was significantly higher for correct responses than for incorrect ones, thereby validating participants’ metacognitive judgments. Specifically, in the VO condition, a dissociation phenomenon was observed: participants demonstrated significant accuracy (69.4%) but lower confidence compared to the VA condition. Conversely, the AO condition demonstrated both high accuracy and confidence levels, similar to the VA condition. These findings suggest that improvisation can be perceived through multiple sensory channels, with characteristic differences in perceptual and metacognitive processes across modalities.