Have you ever wondered how jazz musicians can improvise such amazing and original melodies on the spot? Well, it turns out that their brains are doing something very similar to what we do when we dream. According to a study by Charles J. Limb and Allen R. Braun, published in PLOS ONE, jazz improvisers show a distinctive pattern of brain activity that reflects a shift from self-monitoring to self-expression.
The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of six professional jazz pianists while they performed two different musical tasks: improvising melodies over a pre-recorded jazz accompaniment, or playing a memorized scale or melody. By comparing the brain activity during these tasks, the authors identified brain regions that were specifically involved in improvisation.
They found that improvisation was associated with decreased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal and lateral orbital regions, which are involved in planning, inhibition, and evaluation. These regions are also responsible for self-monitoring performance, which means that improvisers are less concerned about making mistakes or following rules. Instead, they are more focused on expressing themselves freely and creatively.
On the other hand, improvisation was associated with increased activity in the medial prefrontal (frontal polar) region, which is involved in generating internal narratives and personal meaning. This region is also active during dreaming, suggesting that improvisers are creating musical stories that reflect their emotions and experiences. As Limb, quoted by Musicianscience.org, said: “Improvisation is a window into the brain’s creative potential”.
In addition to these prefrontal changes, improvisation also involved increased activity in the sensorimotor and premotor regions, which are involved in executing motor actions and integrating sensory feedback. These regions help improvisers to coordinate their fingers with their ears and produce smooth and fluent musical sequences.
The authors concluded that musical improvisation relies on a network of brain regions that facilitate spontaneous and creative generation of musical ideas. They also noted that improvisation is not simply a random process, but rather reflects the ability to spontaneously recombine musical elements into novel and coherent musical expressions, as Roger E. Beaty wrote in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
However, improvisation is not only a highly demanding cognitive skill, but also an emotional and social one, as Daniela Sammler et al. wrote in The Neurosciences and Music V: Cognitive Stimulation and Rehabilitation. Improvisation can be influenced by various factors, such as musical training, genre, style, mood, and social context. For example, jazz musicians may improvise differently depending on whether they are playing solo or with a band, or whether they are playing for themselves or for an audience.
Therefore, musical improvisation is a complex and fascinating form of creative behavior that reveals how the human brain can generate novel and meaningful patterns of neural activity. By studying how jazz musicians improvise like dreamers, we can learn more about the neural substrates of creativity and its implications for education, therapy, and entertainment.
Relevant articles:
– Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Performance: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation by Charles J. Limb and Allen R. Braun, published on February 27, 2008 in PLOS ONE
– The Neuroscience of Musical Improvisation by Roger E. Beaty, published on March 2015 in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
– Brain activity in musical improvisers revealed by Musicianscience.org, published on April 10, 2021
– Cortical Regions Involved in the Generation of Musical Structures during Improvisation in Pianists by Daniela Sammler, Stefan Koelsch, Katrin Ball, Angela Brandt, Karsten Müller, and Eckart Altenmüller, published on January 1, 2015 in The Neurosciences and Music V: Cognitive Stimulation and Rehabilitation