Name and Touch
A warmup for splitting attention across action, speech, and thought. Participants move through the room, touch objects, and name them aloud — first correctly, then with other objects' names, then with invented words. Each level adds a cognitive channel, building toward the improviser's core skill of doing one thing while saying another.
Full description
Setup and Launch
Clear the space so everyone can move freely and reach objects around the room. Briefly explain the three naming levels: 1) real names of objects; 2) names of other real objects; 3) invented, nonexistent words. Tell the group you will signal each transition, then get everyone milling about the room.
How It Works
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Correct names. Participants walk around, touch any object, and call out its real name — loud and clear, as if announcing it to the room.
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Swapped names. On the host's signal, keep moving and touching, but now name each object with the name of a different real object. Touch a chair, say "lamp." Touch the wall, say "shoe." Free-associate with each new object rather than repeating the same substitute — watch for players who fall into a loop of the same few words.
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Invented words. On the next signal, continue the same pattern but make up a brand-new word for every object you touch. Nothing that exists in any language — pure gibberish.
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Vary the pace. Increase the challenge by calling out tempo changes: speed the group up, then slow them down, all while maintaining the current naming level.
The exercise builds in difficulty across levels. Level 2 (swapped names) is sometimes played on its own under the name "Malapropism" or "Disassociation" — our version wraps it in a fuller progression that makes the cognitive split more visible and trainable.
Key rules
Give a clear signal for each transition between levels: from correct names to swapped names to invented words.
Emphasize continuity: the participant is always moving, touching, and naming out loud — no stopping to think.
Adjust difficulty by varying pace: call out speed-ups and slow-downs within any level.
Remind players of the goal: 'I say one thing, I do another, I think a third' — that split is what this exercise trains.
Context
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