title: Musical Creativity "Revealed" in Brain Structure: Interplay between Motor, Default Mode, and Limbic Networks.
abstract: Creative behaviors are among the most complex that humans engage in, involving not only highly intricate, domain-specific knowledge and skill, but also domain-general processing styles and the affective drive to create. This study presents structural imaging data indicating that musically creative people (as indicated by self-report) have greater cortical surface area or volume in a) regions associated with domain-specific higher-cognitive motor activity and sound processing (dorsal premotor cortex, supplementary and pre-supplementary motor areas, and planum temporale), b) domain-general creative-ideation regions associated with the default mode network (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, middle temporal gyrus, and temporal pole), and c) emotion-related regions (orbitofrontal cortex, temporal pole, and amygdala). These findings suggest that domain-specific musical expertise, default-mode cognitive processing style, and intensity of emotional experience might all coordinate to motivate and facilitate the drive to create music.
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, Department of Music, Albuquerque, NM, 87102, United States.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bashwiner
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, Department of Neurosurgery, Albuquerque, NM, 87102, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wertz
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, Department of Neurosurgery, Albuquerque, NM, 87102, United States.
authors.forename: Ranee A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, Department of Neurosurgery, Albuquerque, NM, 87102, United States.|University of New Mexico, Department of Psychology, Albuquerque, NM, 87102, United States.
authors.forename: Rex E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Jung
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003405:Creativity; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*