Nonverbal Communication: Nina Sobell (Event #3)

I really enjoyed this presentation because I completed my midterm on the importance of nonverbal communication, and this guest speaker event was right on track with that. I was taken right off the bat by the EEG diagrams that represented the sides of people's brains when they are non verbally communicating with one another. These brainwave drawings represent what I think is our innate nonverbal communication. We don’t know that we are having this connection with someone else (of course until a project of this nature is completed), yet our brains take over at this point. This is a really solid argument for why my intervention proposed for my midterm would really positively benefit not only people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but everyone. Our brains are naturally adapted to communicating nonverbally when it is the only option. However, as a society we have alienated people with ASD and other conditions that make verbal communication difficult or unpleasant, and have significantly othered them. In reality, their communication needs are much closer to the form of connecting that our brains prefer, as seen in these Brainwave interactions.

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Source: Nina Sobell

Although it shouldn’t be necessary, exposing people to nonverbal communication usually goes over pretty well, leaving people feeling impressed and like they have experienced something revolutionary. Another really interesting part about Nina’s presentation was her discussion of the silent conversations, and how telepathic drawings from the computers heightened the participants' awareness of focus, and how each person could influence the other’s state of mind without using any words. This really breaks down the root of communication (whether verbal or not) at its core. Communicating is not possible if there is not another person, thing or object to communicate with. This holds true for all forms of interpersonal communication, or communication between people or things. But it can be easy to forget about an entire realm of communicating that is intrapersonal or with yourself. Although sometimes when you’re thinking it can feel like a true internal dialogue in your head, it really is nonverbal because you aren’t exchanging words. The line is blurred when a person chooses to speak to themselves out loud, because that becomes both verbal, and in my opinion it also becomes interpersonal because the words you choose to speak to yourself are coming into your brain just like they would should another person be speaking them to you. There is a good possibility I have even confused myself with this line of thinking, but it just goes to show that our standard way of communicating may not be as standard as we suggest it is, and it is important to leave way for other ways of speaking both to ourselves and others that may not be verbal, as they can often fill in many of the missing pieces.

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Source: Nina Sobell

The last form of nonverbal communication that I found really interesting was via touch. Nina discussed how she created foam sculptures that could be interacted with, as people derive a lot of meaning from touch. This made me think about babies and children, and how their first instinct is to touch things out of curiosity, and only later learn not to do so if they are hurt doing it the first time, or if they are punished. There are even some adults who feel an affinity towards touching things that look intriguing to them. One of those people is my dad. When I visited a Santa Barbara botanical garden with my dad, he would try to touch all of the succulents (we’re from the east coast) without any regard that he could hurt himself from the spines, or the fact that you’re just not supposed to touch them. If he saw Sobell’s foam sculptures on the street, he would definitely be one to touch them. Some people associate this desire with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or other sensory issues, but really I think humans just have a curiosity and the feel of things is just one of them. Touching things is a really good way for our brains to process connections between what we are seeing and what we are feeling, and doesn’t harm anyone if it is a non-threatening object.

Screen Shot 2022-05-19 at 1.31.28 PM.pngSource: Nina Sobell
 

Works Cited

 

Keltner, Dacher. “Hands on Research: The Science of Touch.” Greater Good Magazine, 29 Sept., 2010, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/hands_on_research

 

“Interpersonal vs. Intrapersonal: Keys to Communicate.” University of the People, https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/interpersonal-vs-intrapersonal/

 

“Nonverbal Communication Speaks Volumes.” The Shafer Center, 25 Apr., 2019. 

https://theshafercenter.com/2019/04/25/nonverbal-communication-speaks-volumes/

 

Sobell, Nina. “History: Brain Wave Drawings 1972 - PRESENT.” http://ninasobell.com/ninasobell/index_menu.html

 

“Talking to Yourself: Is it Normal?” Cleveland Clinic, 04 Feb., 2022, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-it-normal-to-talk-to-yourself/#:~:text=There's%20no%20rule%20that%20says,mindful%20of%20your%20setting%2C%20however.