Gray Matter Correlates of Creativity in Musical Improvisation

Abstract

Creativity has been defined as requiring both novelty and effectiveness, but little is known about how this standard definition applies in music. Here, we present results from a pilot study in which we combine behavioral testing in musical improvisation and structural neuroimaging to relate brain structure to performance in a creative musical improvisation task. Thirty-eight subjects completed a novel improvisation continuation task and underwent T1 MRI. Recorded performances were rated by expert jazz instructors for creativity. Voxel-based morphometric analyses on T1 data showed that creativity ratings were negatively associated with gray matter volume in the right inferior temporal gyrus and bilateral hippocampus. The duration of improvisation training, which was significantly correlated with creativity ratings, was negatively associated with gray matter volume in the rolandic operculum. Together, results show that musical improvisation ability and training are associated with gray matter volume in regions that are previously linked to learning and memory formation, perceptual categorization, and sensory integration. The present study takes a first step towards understanding the neuroanatomical basis of musical creativity by relating creative musical improvisation to individual differences in gray matter structure.

Keywords: VBM; creativity; gray matter; improvisation; music.

Figure 1

Musical prompt for the improvisation continuation task.

Figure 2

(A) Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) regression on averaged creativity ratings and the duration of improvisation training (T > 3.53, p < 0.001, k > 10). Top row shows glass-brain representations of the whole-brain regressions; Bottom row shows significant clusters overlaid on a T1 template. (B) Scatterplots showing relationships between averaged creativity ratings and gray matter signal at left and right hippocampus, between averaged creativity ratings and right inferior temporal gyrus, and between the duration of improvisation training and the right rolandic operculum.