Open AccessNeural Substrates of Interactive Musical Improvisation: An fMRI Study of ‘Trading Fours’ in Jazz
Author(s) -
Gabriel F. Donnay,
Summer K. Rankin,
Mónica López-González,
Patpong Jiradejvong,
Charles J. Limb
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0088665
Subject(s) - supramarginal gyrus , improvisation , syntax , superior temporal gyrus , inferior frontal gyrus , angular gyrus , cognitive psychology , computer science , musical , generative grammar , cognitive science , psychology , linguistics , functional magnetic resonance imaging , neuroscience , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , art , philosophy , visual arts
Interactive generative musical performance provides a suitable model for communication because, like natural linguistic discourse, it involves an exchange of ideas that is unpredictable, collaborative, and emergent. Here we show that interactive improvisation between two musicians is characterized by activation of perisylvian language areas linked to processing of syntactic elements in music, including inferior frontal gyrus and posterior superior temporal gyrus, and deactivation of angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, brain structures directly implicated in semantic processing of language. These findings support the hypothesis that musical discourse engages language areas of the brain specialized for processing of syntax but in a manner that is not contingent upon semantic processing. Therefore, we argue that neural regions for syntactic processing are not domain-specific for language but instead may be domain-general for communication.