BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. study has found when people are engaged in creative thought, a brain area involved in monitoring one's activities shuts down.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders-funded researchers discovered when jazz musicians improvise, a large region of the brain involved in monitoring performance -- the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -- shuts down, while a small region involved in organizing self-initiated thoughts -- the medial prefrontal cortex -- becomes highly activated.
The researchers propose those patterns are likely key indicators of a brain engaged in highly creative thought.
"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 Dr. James Battey Jr., NIDCD director. "Through some creative thinking of their own, these researchers designed a protocol in which jazz musicians could play a keyboard while in 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 by Drs. Charles Limb, now with Johns Hopkins University, and Allen Braun of the NICDC, appears in the online journal PLoS One.
--
Copyright 2008 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
--
