Brain Scans of Rappers and Jazz Musicians Shed Light On Creativity

ananyo writes "Rappers making up rhymes on the fly while in a brain scanner have provided an insight into the creative process. Freestyle rapping — in which a performer improvises a song by stringing together unrehearsed lyrics — is a highly prized skill in hip hop. But instead of watching a performance in a club, Siyuan Liu and Allen Braun, neuroscientists at the U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders in Bethesda, Maryland, and their colleagues had 12 rappers freestyle in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. The artists also recited a set of memorized lyrics chosen by the researchers. By comparing the brain scans from rappers taken during freestyling to those taken during the rote recitation, they were able to see which areas of the brain are used during improvisation. The rappers showed lower activity in part of their frontal lobes called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during improvisation, and increased activity in another area, called the medial prefrontal cortex. The areas that were found to be 'deactivated' are associated with regulating other brain functions. The results echo an earlier study of jazz musicians. The findings also suggest an explanation for why new music might seem to the artist to be created of its own accord. With less involvement by the lateral prefrontal regions of the brain, the performance could seem to its creator to have 'occurred outside of conscious awareness,' the authors write in the paper." Bonus points for science rhymes; for anyone who has the time.

Re:Double-blind?

[Anonymous Coward]

Rap is purest crap, all real musicians agree
Ignorance, its purest theme
But at least it's not the effrontery
Of boot and beery country

Cappin' off dem white bitches
Or leavin yur boots under the bed
Neither scratches euphonic itches
or creates harmony in your head

country is purest dreck, all real musicians agree
but at least it's not the annoyance
of droopy pants boy bands
and they don't shoot each other, you see

Howlin' at the moon
and stemmin the rose at night
The one's got pants a-fallin off
the other's jeans - too tight

They both objectify wimmen, and pretend to be real men
The's one's all drugs and bluster
the other worships Custer
and we know what happened to him

But if it rhymes, it's all good
one the one hand with a thump
on the other with drippy harmony
and the gayest cowboy rump

So expose your kids to rock and roll,
classical and jazz
With any luck, they'll grow up,
with music you won't razz.

But should they fall, victim to,
music you can't stand
Be prepared, have earplugs ready,
right there in your hand.