Re: jazz brain study
- From: patmpowers@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:23:52 -0800 (PST)
On Feb 27, 1:27 pm, "Joe Finn" <J...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In Jazz Improv, Large Portion Of Brain's Prefrontal Region 'Takes 5' To Let
Creativity Flow
ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2008) -
When John Coltrane was expanding the boundaries of the well-known song "My
Favorite Things" at the Village Vanguard in May 1966, no one could have
known what inspired him to take the musical turns he took. But imaging
researchers may now have a better picture of how the brain was helping to
carry him there. Scientists have found that, when jazz musicians are engaged
in the highly creative and spontaneous activity known as improvisation, a
large region of the brain involved in monitoring one's performance is shut
down, while a small region involved in organizing self-initiated thoughts
and behaviors is highly activated.
The researchers propose that this and several related patterns are likely to
be key indicators of a brain that is engaged in highly creative thought.
During the study, six highly trained jazz musicians played the keyboard
under two scenarios while in the functional MRI scanner. Functional MRI
(fMRI) is an imaging tool that measures the amount of blood traveling to
various regions of the brain as a means of assessing the amount of neural
activity in those areas.
"The ability to study how the brain functions when it is thinking creatively
has been difficult for scientists because of the many variables involved,"
said James F. Battey, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., director of the NIDCD. "Through some
creative thinking of their own, these researchers designed a protocol in
which jazz musicians could play a keyboard while in the confines of a
functional MRI scanner. And in doing so, they were able to pinpoint
differences in how the brain functions when the musicians are improvising as
opposed to playing a simple melody from memory."
The study was conducted by researchers of NIDCD's Division of Intramural
Research.* Authors on the study are Charles J. Limb, M.D., who was then a
research fellow with NIDCD, and Allen R. Braun, M.D., chief of the
division's Language Section. Dr. Limb is now an otolaryngologist at the
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and faculty member at the
university's Peabody Conservatory of Music.
The first scenario, called the Scale paradigm, was based on a simple C major
scale. Using only their right hand, the volunteers first played the scale up
and down in quarter notes, an activity they, as accomplished musicians, had
performed many times before. Next, they were asked to improvise, though they
were limited to playing quarter notes within the C major scale. "Although
the musicians were indeed improvising, it was a relatively low-level form of
improvisation, musically speaking," said Limb.
The second scenario, called the Jazz paradigm, addressed higher level
musical improvisation. This paradigm was based on a novel blues melody
written by Limb that the volunteers had memorized beforehand. Again, using
only their right hand, the musicians would play the tune exactly as they had
memorized it, only this time accompanied through headphones by a
pre-recorded jazz quartet. When they were asked to improvise, the musicians
listened to the same audio background, but they were free to spontaneously
play whatever notes they wished.
All of this was accomplished while the musicians lay on their backs with
their heads and torsos inside an fMRI scanner and their knees bent upward.
The plastic keyboard, which was shortened to fit inside the scanner and
which had its magnetic parts removed for safety, rested on the musicians'
knees. A mirror placed over the volunteers' eyes, together with the
headphones, helped the musicians see and hear what they were playing. The
resulting fMRI scans recorded the amount of change in neural
activity--increases and decreases--between the improvised and memorized
versions.
Turning Off 'the Monitor'
One notable finding was that the brain scans were nearly identical for the
low-level and high-level forms of improvisation, thus supporting the
researchers' hypothesis that the change in neural activity was due to
creativity and not the complexity of the task. If the latter were the case,
there would have been a more noticeable difference between the Scale and
Jazz paradigms, since the Jazz paradigm was significantly more complex.
Moreover, the researchers found that much of the change between
improvisation and memorization occurred in the prefrontal cortex, the region
of the frontal lobe of the brain that helps us think and problem-solve and
that provides a sense of self. Interestingly, the large portion responsible
for monitoring one's performance (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) shuts down
completely during improvisation, while the much smaller, centrally located
region at the foremost part of the brain (medial prefrontal cortex)
increases in activity.
The medial prefrontal cortex is involved in self-initiated thoughts and
behaviors, and is very active when a person describes an event that has
happened to him or makes up a story. The researchers explain that, just as
over-thinking a jump shot can cause a basketball player to fall out of the
zone and perform poorly, the suppression of inhibitory, self-monitoring
brain mechanisms helps to promote the free flow of novel ideas and impulses.
While this brain pattern is unusual, it resembles the pattern seen in people
when they are dreaming.
Another unusual finding was that there was increased neural activity in each
of the sensory areas during improvisation, including those responsible for
touch, hearing and vision, despite the fact that there were no significant
differences in what individuals were hearing, touching and seeing during
both memorized and improvised conditions. "It's almost as if the brain ramps
up its sensorimotor processing in order to be in a creative state," said
Limb. The systems that regulate emotion were also engaged during
improvisation.
"One important thing we can conclude from this study is that there is no
single creative area of the brain--no focal activation of a single area,"
said Braun. "Rather, when you move from either of the control tasks to
improvisation, you see a strong and consistent pattern of activity
throughout the brain that enables creativity."
The study is published in the Feb. 27 issue of the journal Public Library of
Science (PLoS) One.http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:do...
*Funding was provided by the National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health.
Adapted from materials provided by NIH/National Institute on Deafness and
Other Communication Disorders.
--
Visit me on the web www.JoeFinn.net
I've also read that part of the brain grows more for musicians, so
much so that a doctor dissecting a brain can tell whether it is
belonged to a musician.
"Doctor, will he be able to play the violin after all this?"
"Yes, he will."
"That's funny, he could never do it before."
.
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- From: Joe Finn
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