Used as Visual Stimuli
(a) Schematic showing fMRI stimulus and instruction presentation paradigm
and (b)
Photographs representing positive, ambiguous and negative emotions. Photographs
were shot
indoors in black
and white with a 50 mm lens at f16 using a Nikon D700 digital SLR camera.
(January 5, 2016) Abstract
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.