The Brain Functional State of Music Creation: an fMRI Study of Composers

Abstract

In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the functional networks in professional composers during the creation of music. We compared the composing state and resting state imagery of 17 composers and found that the functional connectivity of primary networks in the bilateral occipital lobe and bilateral postcentral cortex decreased during the composing period. However, significantly stronger functional connectivity appeared between the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the right angular gyrus and the bilateral superior frontal gyrus during composition. These findings indicate that a specific brain state of musical creation is formed when professional composers are composing, in which the integration of the primary visual and motor areas is not necessary. Instead, the neurons of these areas are recruited to enhance the functional connectivity between the ACC and the default mode network (DMN) to plan the integration of musical notes with emotion.

Figure 1. The stave that was used in the experiment.

Figure 2. FCD result of the resting state and the composing state (from Tc = 0.6 to 0.85, stepped by 0.05, p < 0.001, cluster threshold k > 600 mm³).

Rows ‘A’ and ‘B’: short-range FCD. Rows ‘C’ and ‘D’: long-range FCD. The five ROIs are shown in the left column. Reference color bar is shown on the bottom row.

Figure 3. Results of functional connectivity analysis (p < 0.05, FDR-corrected, cluster threshold k > 600 mm³).

Row ‘A’ represents the significantly decreased functional connectivity of the left occipital seed. Row ‘B’ reveals that of the right occipital seed. Row ‘C’ represents the significantly decreased functional connectivity of the left postcentral seed. Row ‘D’ reveals the significantly decreased functional connectivity of the right postcentral seed. Row ‘E’ reveals the significantly increased functional connectivity of the left cingulum seed.

Figure 4. Region-wise functional connectivity between networks.

‘A’ and ‘B’ show the layout of nodes and undirected edges of networks during different states, respectively. ‘C’ shows the different functional connectivity between the composing state and the resting state, and we find that the functional connectivity between visual and motor areas in primary networks has decreased (blue lines), whereas the functional connectivity between the ACC and the DMN increased (red line) in the composing state.