TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotional Intent Modulates the Neural Substrates of Creativity
T2 - An fMRI Study of Emotionally Targeted Improvisation in Jazz Musicians
AU - Mcpherson, Malinda J.
AU - Barrett, Frederick S.
AU - Lopez-Gonzalez, Monica
AU - Jiradejvong, Patpong
AU - Limb, Charles J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was funded by the Dana Foundation and the Brain Science Institute of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as well as a Training Grant (T32-DC000023) from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
PY - 2016/1/4
Y1 - 2016/1/4
N2 - Emotion is a primary motivator for creative behaviors, yet the interaction between the neural systems involved in creativity and those involved in emotion has not been studied. In the current study, we addressed this gap by using fMRI to examine piano improvisation in response to emotional cues. We showed twelve professional jazz pianists photographs of an actress representing a positive, negative or ambiguous emotion. Using a non-ferromagnetic thirty-five key keyboard, the pianists improvised music that they felt represented the emotion expressed in the photographs. Here we show that activity in prefrontal and other brain networks involved in creativity is highly modulated by emotional context. Furthermore, emotional intent directly modulated functional connectivity of limbic and paralimbic areas such as the amygdala and insula. These findings suggest that emotion and creativity are tightly linked, and that the neural mechanisms underlying creativity may depend on emotional state.
AB - Emotion is a primary motivator for creative behaviors, yet the interaction between the neural systems involved in creativity and those involved in emotion has not been studied. In the current study, we addressed this gap by using fMRI to examine piano improvisation in response to emotional cues. We showed twelve professional jazz pianists photographs of an actress representing a positive, negative or ambiguous emotion. Using a non-ferromagnetic thirty-five key keyboard, the pianists improvised music that they felt represented the emotion expressed in the photographs. Here we show that activity in prefrontal and other brain networks involved in creativity is highly modulated by emotional context. Furthermore, emotional intent directly modulated functional connectivity of limbic and paralimbic areas such as the amygdala and insula. These findings suggest that emotion and creativity are tightly linked, and that the neural mechanisms underlying creativity may depend on emotional state.
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U2 - 10.1038/srep18460
DO - 10.1038/srep18460
M3 - Article
C2 - 26725925
AN - SCOPUS:84952901687
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 6
JO - Scientific reports
JF - Scientific reports
M1 - 18460
ER -