Neural Substrates of Musical Creativity

Abstract

Musical improvisation, the spontaneous generation of melodies and rhythm within a musical context, is a complex process. Over the last decade, neuroscientists have used neuroimaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify neural substrates of musical improvisation. This review chapter synthesizes fMRI experiments on musical improvisation, including studies where participants play, vocalize, or imagine improvisations. It also discusses differences in results due to variations in experimental paradigms and participants with differing levels of expertise. Additionally, this chapter summarizes findings in research exploring functional networks involved in improvisation—namely the default mode, executive, and salience network—by encapsulating experimental results on functional connectivity in resting state data and during active improvisation tasks. Finally, we discuss research gaps in the field. As additional experiments are conducted, future research may continue to probe how neural substrates of improvisation vary across artistic domains, how participating in creative behaviors might improve brain function, and how aging and disease affect the creative brain. While great strides have been made to understand the mechanisms of generative creativity, much remains to be explored. This research is critically important given that creativity underlies the human ability to invent and innovate.