Name: Your brain on improv
Uploaded: 2011-01-05T16:02:00Z
Duration: 16 min 14 s
Description: Musician and researcher Charles Limb wondered how the brain works during musical improvisation -- so he put jazz musicians and rappers in an fMRI to find out. What he and his team found has deep implications for our understanding of creativity of all kinds.

Musician and researcher Charles Limb wondered how the brain works during musical improvisation -- so he put jazz musicians and rappers in an fMRI to find out. What he and his team found has deep implications for our understanding of creativity of all kinds.

Your brain on improv

Creativity, once seen as mystical, can now be tracked in real time using brain scans of musicians improvising jazz or freestyle rap. When artists create spontaneously, regions linked to self-expression light up while self-monitoring areas switch off. Professional musicians even play real music lying down inside MRI scanners, revealing the brain’s unique patterns during improvisation. These discoveries mark the beginning of a new science of creativity, bridging art and neuroscience.