Can Music Listening Inspire Creativity? An Investigation of the Psychological and Neural Correlates of Music-Induced Creative Incubation

Creativity has been previously linked to mind-wandering and emotion, respectively. Specifically, experiencing high levels of mind-wandering during an incubation period— a break from performing a task that requires creative effort— can augment creative insight and engage the brain’s default mode network (DMN). Moreover, although positive emotions have often been associated with creativity, some conflicting findings exist regarding negative emotions. While in recent years research has shown how music can be effectively employed to evoke a wide range of emotions as well as to stimulate the frequency and contents of mind-wandering (and more broadly mental imagery), the impact of music listening on creativity is currently unknown. This project will address this gap by elucidating the psychological and neural processes underlying music-induced creative incubation in two experiments using behavioral methods (Study 1) and fMRI (Study 2).