Precis

Hugues Duffau, Jazz Improvisation, Creativity, and Brain Plasticity,  World Neurosurgery, Volume 81, Issues 3–4, March–April 2014, Pages 508­ 510, Retreived from  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878875013012916

Music, as a topic of neuroscience, provides strong implications on the improved understanding and compregension of complex mechanism that provide a reorganization of neural curcuits that support “high-order” functions like creativity. Jazz improvisation, or spontaneous creative activity, provides a setting that supports the facts about distributed neural patterns. Jazz musicians improvising with other musicians imply mental interactions known as metalizing. **http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/18/6156.long Musicians have been used extensively to study neural correlates of long-term practice, but no studies have investigated the specific effects of training musical creativity. Here, we used human functional MRI to measure brain activity during improvisation in a sample of 39 professional pianists with varying backgrounds in classical and jazz piano playing. We found total hours of improvisation experience to be negatively associated with activity in frontoparietal executive cortical areas. In contrast, improvisation training was positively associated with functional connectivity of the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, dorsal premotor cortices, and presupplementary areas. The effects were significant when controlling for hours of classical piano practice and age. These results indicate that even neural mechanisms involved in creative behaviors, which require a flexible online generation of novel and meaningful output, can be automated by training. Second, improvisational musical training can influence functional brain properties at a network level. We show that the greater functional connectivity seen in experienced improvisers may reflect a more efficient exchange of information within associative networks of importance for musical creativity. Ana Luísa Pinho, Örjan de Manzano, Peter Fransson, Helene Eriksson, and Fredrik Ullén (April 30, 2014) Connecting to Create: Expertise in Musical Improvisation Is Associated with Increased Functional Connectivity between Premotor and Prefrontal Areas. The Journal of Neuroscience. Retreived from http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/18/6156.long

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088665 Interactive generative musical performance provides a suitable model for communication because, like natural linguistic discourse, it involves an exchange of ideas that is unpredictable, collaborative, and emergent. Here we show that interactive improvisation between two musicians is characterized by activation of perisylvian language areas linked to processing of syntactic elements in music, including inferior frontal gyrus and posterior superior temporal gyrus, and deactivation of angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, brain structures directly implicated in semantic processing of language. These findings support the hypothesis that musical discourse engages language areas of the brain specialized for processing of syntax but in a manner that is not contingent upon semantic processing. Therefore, we argue that neural regions for syntactic processing are not domain-specific for language but instead may be domain-general for communication. Donnay GF, Rankin SK, Lopez-Gonzalez M, Jiradejvong P, Limb CJ (2014) Neural Substrates of Interactive Musical Improvisation: An fMRI Study of ‘Trading Fours’ in Jazz. PLoS ONE. Retrieved from journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088665 http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=09b79542­309c­ 411a­8bae­45eaf18cdad8%40sessionmgr4005&vid=1&hid=4107

Creativity is a fundamental and remarkable human capacity, yet the scientific study of creativity has been limited by the difficulty of reconciling the scientific method and creative processes. We outline several hurdles and considerations that should be addressed when studying the cognitive neuroscience of creativity and suggest that jazz improvisation may be one of the most useful experimental models for the study of spontaneous creativity. More broadly, we argue that studying creativity in a way that is both scientifically and ecologically valid requires collaboration between neuroscientists and artists.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23447788 On the spot, as great jazz performers expertly improvise solo passages, they make immediate decisions about which musical phrases to invent and to play. Researchers, like authors Mónica López-González and Dana Foundation grantee Charles J. Limb, are now using brain imaging to study the neural underpinnings of spontaneous artistic creativity, from jazz riffs to freestyle rap. So far, they have found that brain areas deactivated during improvisation are also at rest during dreaming and meditation, while activated areas include those controlling language and sensorimotor skills. Even with relatively few completed studies,

researchers have concluded that musical creativity clearly cannot be tied to just one brain area or process. López-González, M., & Limb, C. J. (2012). Musical Creativity and the Brain. Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science, 2012, 2. Retreived from

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088665 Interactive generative musical performance provides a suitable model for communication because, like natural linguistic discourse, it involves an exchange of ideas that is unpredictable, collaborative, and emergent. Here we show that interactive improvisation between two musicians is characterized by activation of perisylvian language areas linked to processing of syntactic elements in music, including inferior frontal gyrus and posterior superior temporal gyrus, and deactivation of angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, brain structures directly implicated in semantic processing of language. These findings support the hypothesis that musical discourse engages language areas of the brain specialized for processing of syntax but in a manner that is not contingent upon semantic processing. Therefore, we argue that neural regions for syntactic processing are not domain-specific for language but instead may be domain-general for communication. Donnay GF, Rankin SK, Lopez-Gonzalez M, Jiradejvong P, Limb CJ (2014) Neural Substrates of Interactive Musical Improvisation: An fMRI Study of ‘Trading Fours’ in Jazz. PLoS ONE 9(2): http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088665

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0001679#pone-0001679-g003 To investigate the neural substrates that underlie spontaneous musical performance, we examined improvisation in professional jazz pianists using functional MRI. By employing two paradigms that differed widely in musical complexity, we found that improvisation (compared to production of over-learned musical sequences) was consistently characterized by a dissociated pattern of activity in the prefrontal cortex: extensive deactivation of dorsolateral prefrontal and lateral orbital regions with focal activation of the medial prefrontal (frontal

polar) cortex. Such a pattern may reflect a combination of psychological processes required for spontaneous improvisation, in which internally motivated, stimulus-independent behaviors unfold in the absence of central processes that typically mediate self-monitoring and conscious volitional control of ongoing performance. Changes in prefrontal activity during improvisation were accompanied by widespread activation of neocortical sensorimotor areas (that mediate the organization and execution of musical performance) as well as deactivation of limbic structures (that regulate motivation and emotional tone). This distributed neural pattern may provide a cognitive context that enables the emergence of spontaneous creative activity. Limb CJ, Braun AR (2008) Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Performance: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation. PLoS ONE. Retrieved from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0001679#pone-0001679-g003

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25152740 To what extent and in what arenas do collaborating musicians need to understand what they are doing in the same way? Two experienced jazz musicians who had never previously played together played three improvisations on a jazz standard ("It Could Happen to You") on either side of a visual barrier. They were then immediately interviewed separately about the performances, their musical intentions, and their judgments of their partner's musical intentions, both from memory and prompted with the audiorecordings of the performances. Statements from both (audiorecorded) interviews as well as statements from an expert listener were extracted and anonymized. Two months later, the performers listened to the recordings and rated the extent to which they endorsed each statement. Performers endorsed statements they themselves had generated more often than statements by their performing partner and the expert listener; their overall level of agreement with each other was greater than chance but moderate to low, with disagreements about the quality of one of the performances and about who was responsible for it. The quality of the performances combined with the disparities in agreement suggest that, at least in this case study, fully shared understanding of what happened is not essential for successful improvisation. The fact that the performers endorsed an expert listener's statements more than their partner's argues against a simple notion that performers' interpretations are always privileged relative to an outsider's.

Jazz improvisers' shared understanding: a case study M Schober, N Spiro. Frontiers in Psycology, Front. Psychol., 08 August 2014 http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00808/abstract ish http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811909009525 Musical training has been associated with structural changes in the brain as well as functional differences in brain activity when musicians are compared to nonmusicians on both perceptual and motor tasks. Previous neuroimaging comparisons of musicians and nonmusicians in the motor domain have used tasks involving prelearned motor sequences or synchronization with an auditorily presented sequence during the experiment. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine expertise-related differences in brain activity between musicians and nonmusicians during improvisation – the generation of novel musical–motor sequences – using a paradigm that we previously used in musicians alone. Despite behaviorally matched performance, the two groups showed significant differences in functional brain activity during improvisation. Specifically, musicians deactivated the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) during melodic improvisation, while nonmusicians showed no change in activity in this region. The rTPJ is thought to be part of a ventral attentional network for bottom-up stimulus-driven processing, and it has been postulated that deactivation of this region occurs in order to inhibit attentional shifts toward task-irrelevant stimuli during top-down, goal-driven behavior. We propose that the musicians' deactivation of the rTPJ during melodic improvisation may represent a training-induced shift toward inhibition of stimulus-driven attention, allowing for a more goaldirected performance state that aids in creative thought

http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/science/article/pii/S 0191886914000919 The music genre of jazz is commonly associated with creativity. However, this association has hardly been formally tested. Therefore, this study aimed at examining whether jazz musicians actually differ in creativity and personality from musicians of other music genres. We compared students of classical music, jazz music, and folk music with respect to their musical activities, psychometric creativity and different aspects of personality. In line with expectations, jazz musicians are more frequently engaged in extracurricular musical activities, and also complete a higher number of creative musical achievements.

Additionally, jazz musicians show higher ideational creativity as measured by divergent thinking tasks, and tend to be more open to new experiences than classical musicians. This study provides first empirical evidence that jazz musicians show particularly high creativity with respect to domain-specific musical accomplishments but also in terms of domain-general indicators of divergent thinking ability that may be relevant for musical improvisation. The findings are further discussed with respect to differences in formal and informal learning approaches between music genres. Mathias Benedek, Barbara Borovnjak, Aljoscha C. Neubauer, Silke Kruse-Weber, Creativity and personality in classical, jazz and folk musicians, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 63, June 2014, Pages 117-121. Retreived from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914000919

http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/science/article/pii/S 0149763415000068 MRI research on instrumental and vocal improvisation is synthesized. • Improvisation is most commonly related to premotor cortex activation. • Default and executive network hubs also show differential involvement. • Cooperation between large­scale networks may underlie creative behavior.

Researchers have recently begun to examine the neural basis of musical improvisation, one of the most complex forms of creative behavior. The emerging field of improvisation neuroscience has implications not only for the study of artistic expertise, but also for understanding the neural underpinnings of domain-general processes such as motor control and language production. This review synthesizes functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) studies of musical improvisation, including vocal and instrumental improvisation, with samples of jazz pianists, classical musicians, freestyle rap artists, and non-musicians. A network of prefrontal brain regions commonly linked to improvisatory behavior is highlighted, including the presupplementary motor area, medial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and dorsal premotor cortex. Activation of premotor and lateral prefrontal regions suggests that a seemingly unconstrained behavior may actually benefit from motor

planning and cognitive control. Yet activation of cortical midline regions points to a role of spontaneous cognition characteristic of the default network. Together, such results may reflect cooperation between largescale brain networks associated with cognitive control and spontaneous thought. The improvisation literature is integrated with Pressing's theoretical model, and discussed within the broader context of research on the brain basis of creative cognition. Roger E. Beaty, The neuroscience of musical improvisation, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Volume 51, April 2015, Pages 108-117, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763415000068

http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/pubmed/25144200 One of the primary functions of music is to convey emotion, yet how music accomplishes this task remains unclear. For example, simple correlations between mode (major vs. minor) and emotion (happy vs. sad) do not adequately explain the enormous range, subtlety or complexity of musically induced emotions. In this study, we examined the structural features of unconstrained musical improvisations generated by jazz pianists in response to emotional cues. We hypothesized that musicians would not utilize any universal rules to convey emotions, but would instead combine heterogeneous musical elements together in order to depict positive and negative emotions. Our findings demonstrate a lack of simple correspondence between emotions and musical features of spontaneous musical improvisation. While improvisations in response to positive emotional cues were more likely to be in major keys, have faster tempos, faster key press velocities and more staccato notes when compared to negative improvisations, there was a wide distribution for each emotion with components that directly violated these primary associations. The finding that musicians often combine disparate features together in order to convey emotion during improvisation suggests that structural diversity may be an essential feature of the ability of music to express a wide range of emotion. McPherson MJ, Lopez-Gonzalez M, Rankin SK, Limb CJ (2014) The Role of Emotion in Musical Improvisation: An Analysis of Structural Features. PLoS ONE 9(8): Retreived from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105144 APA McPherson, M. J., Lopez-Gonzalez, M., Rankin, S. K., & Limb, C. J. (2014). The Role of Emotion in Musical Improvisation: An Analysis of Structural Features. PLoS ONE. Retreived from

http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/pubmed/25010334 The current study explored the influence of musical expertise, and specifically training in improvisation on creativity, using the framework of the twofold model, according to which creativity involves a process of idea generation and idea evaluation. Based on the hypothesis that a strict evaluation phase may have an inhibiting effect over the generation phase, we predicted that training in improvisation may have a "releasing effect" on the evaluation system, leading to greater creativity. To examine this hypothesis, we compared performance among three groups--musicians trained in improvisation, musicians not trained in improvisation, and non-musicians--on divergent thinking tasks and on their evaluation of creativity. The improvisation group scored higher on fluency and originality compared to the other two groups. Among the musicians, evaluation of creativity mediated how experience in improvisation was related to originality and fluency scores. It is concluded that deliberate practice of improvisation may have a "releasing effect" on creativity. Kleinmintz OM, Goldstein P, Mayseless N, Abecasis D, Shamay-Tsoory SG (2014) Expertise in Musical Improvisation and Creativity: The Mediation of Idea Evaluation. PLoS ONE 9(7): e101568. Retreived from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0101568

http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/pubmed/24040094 Humans interact with the environment through sensory and motor acts. Some of these interactions require synchronization among two or more individuals. Multiple-trial designs, which we have used in past work to study interbrain synchronization in the course of joint action, constrain the range of observable interactions. To overcome the limitations of multiple-trial designs, we conducted single-trial analyses of electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded from eight pairs of guitarists engaged in musical improvisation. We identified hyper-brain networks based on a complex interplay of different frequencies. The intra-brain connections primarily involved higher frequencies (e.g., beta), whereas inter-brain connections primarily operated at lower frequencies (e.g., delta and theta). The topology of hyper-brain networks was frequency-dependent, with a tendency to become more regular at higher frequencies. We also found hyper-brain modules that included nodes (i.e., EEG electrodes) from both brains. Some of the

observed network properties were related to musical roles during improvisation. Our findings replicate and extend earlier work and point to mechanisms that enable individuals to engage in temporally coordinated joint action. Müller V, Sänger J, Lindenberger U (2013) Intra- and Inter-Brain Synchronization during Musical Improvisation on the Guitar. PLoS ONE 8(9) Retreived from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0073852

http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/pubmed/22732560 Free, i.e. non-externally cued generation of movement sequences is fundamental to human behavior. We have earlier hypothesized that the dorsal premotor cortex (PMD), which has been consistently implicated in cognitive aspects of planning and selection of spatial motor sequences may be particularly important for the free generation of spatial movement sequences, whereas the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), which shows increased activation during perception, learning and reproduction of temporal sequences, may contribute more to the generation of temporal structures. Here we test this hypothesis using fMRI and musical improvisation in professional pianists as a model behavior. We employed a 2 × 2 factorial design with the factors Melody (Specified/Improvised) and Rhythm (Specified/Improvised). The main effect analyses partly confirmed our hypothesis: there was a main effect of Melody in the PMD; the pre-SMA was present in the main effect of Rhythm, as predicted, as well as in the main effect of Melody. A psychophysiological interaction analysis of functional connectivity demonstrated that the correlation in activity between the pre-SMA and cerebellum was higher during rhythmic improvisation than during the other conditions. In summary, there were only subtle differences in activity level between the pre-SMA and PMD during improvisation, regardless of condition. Consequently, the free generation of rhythmic and melodic structures, appears to be largely integrated processes but the functional connectivity between premotor areas and other regions may change during free generation in response to sequence-specific spatiotemporal demands. Örjan de Manzano, Fredrik Ullén, Activation and connectivity patterns of the presupplementary and dorsal premotor areas during free improvisation of melodies and rhythms, NeuroImage, Volume 63, Issue 1, 15 October 2012, Pages 272-280, Retreived from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811912006386

http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/pubmed/22301457 Anecdotes from creative eminences suggest that executive control plays an important role in creativity, but scientific evidence is sparse. Invoking the Dual Pathway to Creativity Model, the authors hypothesize that working memory capacity (WMC) relates to creative performance because it enables persistent, focused, and systematic combining of elements and possibilities (persistence). Study 1 indeed showed that under cognitive load, participants performed worse on a creative insight task. Study 2 revealed positive associations between time-ontask and creativity among individuals high but not low in WMC, even after controlling for general intelligence. Study 3 revealed that across trials, semiprofessional cellists performed increasingly more creative improvisations when they had high rather than low WMC. Study 4 showed that WMC predicts original ideation because it allows persistent (rather than flexible) processing. The authors conclude that WMC benefits creativity because it enables the individual to maintain attention focused on the task and prevents undesirable mind wandering.

Carsten K. W. De Dreu, Bernard A. Nijstad, Matthijs Baas, Inge Wolsink,and Marieke Roskes. Working Memory Benefits Creative Insight, Musical Improvisation, and Original Ideation Through Maintained Task-Focused Attention Pers Soc Psychol Bull May 2012 38: 656-669, first published on February 2, 2012. Retrieved from http://psp.sagepub.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/content/38/5/656.long

http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/pubmed/21738518 The ability to evaluate spontaneity in human behavior is called upon in the esthetic appreciation of dramatic arts and music. The current study addresses the behavioral and brain mechanisms that mediate the perception of spontaneity in music performance. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, 22 jazz musicians listened to piano melodies and judged whether they were improvised or imitated. Judgment accuracy (mean 55%; range 44-65%), which was low but above chance, was positively correlated with musical experience and empathy. Analysis of listeners' hemodynamic responses revealed that amygdala activation was stronger for improvisations than imitations. This activation correlated with the variability of performance timing

and intensity (loudness) in the melodies, suggesting that the amygdala is involved in the detection of behavioral uncertainty. An analysis based on the subjective classification of melodies according to listeners' judgments revealed that a network including the presupplementary motor area, frontal operculum, and anterior insula was most strongly activated for melodies judged to be improvised. This may reflect the increased engagement of an action simulation network when melodic predictions are rendered challenging due to perceived instability in the performer's actions. Taken together, our results suggest that, while certain brain regions in skilled individuals may be generally sensitive to objective cues to spontaneity in human behavior, the ability to evaluate spontaneity accurately depends upon whether an individual's action-related experience and perspective taking skills enable faithful internal simulation of the given behavior. Engel, A., & Keller, P. E. (2011). The Perception of Musical Spontaneity in Improvised and Imitated Jazz Performances. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 83. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00083 retreived from http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00083/abstract

Creativity ---------------------- Or perhaps neural plasticity?

Creativity is a fundamental and remarkable human capacity, yet the scientific study of creativity has been limited by the difficulty of reconciling the scientific method and creative processes. We outline several hurdles and considerations that should be addressed when studying the cognitive neuroscience of creativity and suggest that jazz improvisation may be one of the most useful experimental models for the study of spontaneous creativity. More broadly, we argue that studying creativity in a way that is both scientifically and ecologically valid requires collaboration between neuroscientists and artists. Limb, Charles J., McPherson, Malinda. Difficulties in the neuroscience of creativity: jazz improvisation and the scientific method. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. Vol 1303 issue 1. Retreived from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12174

Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the experience of flow Recent theoretical and empirical work in cognitive science and neuroscience is brought into contact with the concept of the flow experience. After a brief exposition of brain function, the explicit–

implicit distinction is applied to the effortless information processing that is so characteristic of the flow state. The explicit system is associated with the higher cognitive functions of the frontal lobe and medial temporal lobe structures and has evolved to increase cognitive flexibility. In contrast, the implicit system is associated with the skillbased knowledge supported primarily by the basal ganglia and has the advantage of being more efficient. From the analysis of this flexibility/efficiency trade-off emerges a thesis that identifies the flow state as a period during which a highly practiced skill that is represented in the implicit system’s knowledge base is implemented without interference from the explicit system. It is proposed that a necessary prerequisite to the experience of flow is a state of transient hypofrontality that enables the temporary suppression of the analytical and meta-conscious capacities of the explicit system. Examining sensory-motor integration skills that seem to typify flow such as athletic performance, writing, and free-jazz improvisation, the new framework clarifies how this concept relates to creativity and opens new avenues of research. Arne Dietrich, Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the experience of flow, Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 13, Issue 4, December 2004, Pages 746-761, ISSN 1053-8100, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.07.002. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810004000583 Neural networks involved in artistic creativity Creativity has been proposed to be either the result of solely right hemisphere processes or of interhemispheric interactions. Little information is available, however, concerning the neuronal foundations of creativity. In this study, we introduced a new artistic task, designing a new tool (a pen), which let us quantitatively evaluate creativity by three indices of originality. These scores were analyzed in combination with brain activities measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results were compared between subjects who had been formally trained in design (experts) and novice subjects. In the experts, creativity was quantitatively correlated with the degree of dominance of the right prefrontal cortex over that of the left, but not with that of the right or left prefrontal cortex alone. In contrast, in novice subjects, only a negative correlation with creativity was observed in the bilateral inferior parietal cortex. We introduced structure equation modeling to analyze the interactions among these four brain areas and originality indices. The results predicted that training exerts a direct effect on the left parietal cortex. Additionally, as a result of the indirect effects, the activity of the right prefrontal cortex was facilitated, and the left prefrontal and right parietal cortices were

suppressed. Our results supported the hypothesis that training increases creativity via reorganized intercortical interactions. Kowatari, Y., Lee, S. H., Yamamura, H., Nagamori, Y., Levy, P., Yamane, S., Yamamoto, M. Neural networks involved in artistic creativity. Human Brain Mapping Vol 30, Issue 5. Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company pages 1678-1690. May 2009 Retreived from http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20633

Arne Dietrich, Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the experience of flow, Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 13, Issue 4, December 2004, Pages 746-761, ISSN 1053-8100, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.07.002. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810004000583)