Joint attention and theatricality Joint Directing attention in Sophocles’ tragedy Women of Trachis

Abstract

Joint attention refers to the cognitive ability to share attention between an object and one (or more) observers, and that all observers know that they are all looking at the same object. Based on a large body of literature and neurocognitive
research, joint attention is a milestone in the development of high-level cognitive abilities: it plays a role in language and communication (Michael Tomasello) and in the emergence of the theory of mind (Simon Baron-Cohen). There is no consensus on evolutionary explanations for the origin of joint attention, and in recent years several theories have emerged that link the development of a complex form of joint attention in humans to the appearance of early cultural practices (performativity, ritual, hypothetical play) (Fritz Breithaupt). Following this theoretical line of thought, this paper provides insights into research on the performance practices of Attic tragedy, which investigates, on the basis of surviving texts, the various forms of management of joint attention (A.C. Duncan).