Teaser Neuroscience

Jazz improvisers score high on creativity

Musicians trained to improvise responded more quickly to unusual chords and showed stronger creativity than others

jazz musicians

ALL THAT JAZZ  Improvisation and creativity may go hand in hand, an analysis of musicians’ brain activity reveals.

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By Kimber Price

Improvisation may give jazz artists a creative boost not seen among musicians more likely to stick to the score. Jazz musicians’ brains quickly embrace improvisational surprises, new research on the neural roots of creativity shows.

Neuroscientist Emily Przysinda and colleagues at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.,