Breaking away from set patterns of thinking: Improvisation and divergent thinking

Lewis, Carine; Lovatt, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2013.03.001

Cited by 112 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…But divergent thinking also predicted improvisation scores, even after controlling for practice hours. The results of this study and other recent work (e.g., Benedek et al, 2014a;Lewis and Lovatt, 2013) point to a potential overlap between the ability to generate creative ideas in general and the ability of jazz musicians to generate novel musical sequences. Pressing (1988) conceptualized improvisation as the interaction between higher-order referent processes and long-term memory.…”

Section: Improvisation and Domain-general Processessupporting

confidence: 62%

The neuroscience of musical improvisation

Beaty

2015

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

183

163

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Researchers have recently begun to examine the neural basis of musical improvisation, one of the most complex forms of creative behavior. The emerging field of improvisation neuroscience has implications not only for the study of artistic expertise, but also for understanding the neural underpinnings of domain-general processes such as motor control and language production. This review synthesizes functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) studies of musical improvisation, including vocal and instrumental improvisation, with samples of jazz pianists, classical musicians, freestyle rap artists, and non-musicians. A network of prefrontal brain regions commonly linked to improvisatory behavior is highlighted, including the pre-supplementary motor area, medial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and dorsal premotor cortex. Activation of premotor and lateral prefrontal regions suggests that a seemingly unconstrained behavior may actually benefit from motor planning and cognitive control. Yet activation of cortical midline regions points to a role of spontaneous cognition characteristic of the default network. Together, such results may reflect cooperation between large-scale brain networks associated with cognitive control and spontaneous thought. The improvisation literature is integrated with Pressing's theoretical model, and discussed within the broader context of research on the brain basis of creative cognition.

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Section: Improvisation and Domain-general Processessupporting

confidence: 62%

The neuroscience of musical improvisation

Beaty

2015

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

183

163

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“…Verbal improvisation is the act of spontaneously creating strings of new words, while avoiding pre-planned phrases (Sawyer, 2008). Lewis and Lovatt (2013) suggest that verbal improvisation shares in common with everyday speech the use of general knowledge structures or schemas (Bartlett, 1932). However, when improvising these schemas are reformulated to produce something new (Pressing, 1987).…”

Section: Experiments 2: the Effect Of Verbal Improvisation And Acting mentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvisation facilitates divergent thinking and creativity: Realizing a benefit of primary school arts education.

Sowden

Clements

Redlich

et al. 2015

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

Self Cite

115

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The benefit of arts education for cultural engagement, wider academic achievement, and as a contributor to the creative economy is a subject of significant debate. In the present work we focus on the potential for simple arts-based improvisation activities to enhance divergent thinking skills and creativity in primary school age children. In a first experiment we compared the effect of children taking part in an improvised vs. non-improvised dance class on their subsequent performance on the Instances Task (Wallach & Kogan, 1965) and on a creative 'toy' design task. In a second experiment children took part in verbal and acting improvisation games or in matched control games before completing figural activity 1 of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Torrance, 1974). In both experiments we found that children who took part in the improvisation interventions showed better divergent thinking and creativity after the intervention. Our findings suggest that simple, arts-based improvisation interventions could have domain general benefits for creative cognition processes. Further, they indicate one way in which simply making better use of existing arts education provision could provide a cost-effective way to increase creativity relevant skills in primary school children. We consider putative mechanisms for the improvisation effects and specify directions for future work.

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“…Several explicit skills for creativity improvement have been proposed, such as the association skill (Cheng et al, 2010;Gruszka & Necka, 2002;Piers & Morgan, 1973), creative problem solving (Parnes, 1962), cognitive stimulation (Fink et al, 2010), divergent thinking (Fleith et al, 2002;Runco, 1991), conceptual combination (Kohn, Paulus, &Korde, 2011), Synectics (Gordon, 1961); future thinking (Chiu, 2012); instruction on how to be creative (Nusbaum et al, 2014), improvisation (Lewis & Lovatt, 2013), and representation change (Patrick & Ahmed, 2014).…”

Section: Overinclusive Thinking Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving your creative potential without awareness: Overinclusive thinking training

Chiu

2015

Thinking Skills and Creativity

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Breaking away from set patterns of thinking: Improvisation and divergent thinking

Cited by 112 publications

References 49 publications

The neuroscience of musical improvisation

The neuroscience of musical improvisation

Improvisation facilitates divergent thinking and creativity: Realizing a benefit of primary school arts education.

Improving your creative potential without awareness: Overinclusive thinking training

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