Prefrontal Cortex
The prefrontal cortex is known not only to be involved in emotional responses, but also to have numerous connections with other parts of the brain that are responsible for controlling dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.The two halves of the prefrontal cortex also seem to have specialized functions, with the left half being involved in establishing positive feelings and the right half in establishing negative ones. And indeed, in depressed people, it is the left prefrontal cortex that shows the greatest signs of weakness.
How does this relate to music?
While listening to a song, many people experience strong feelings or memories. Music actually triggers the brain as if it is a memory. When listening to a particular song, the song is processed and recognized. However, music is processed as a “reward” to the brain. Much the same way as humans experience pleasure from primary rewards (money, food, sex, etc.), music is processed in the same way. The nucleus accumbens is responsible for this. The nucleus accumbens is activated once a sound is considered pleasurable to the mind. It initiates and motivates behaviors aimed at obtaining rewards. This could explain why people worldwide listen to music; it is processed as a reward to the mind.
When jazz musicians engage in improvisation, a large region of the prefrontal cortex is shut down, while a small region involved in organizing self-initiated thoughts and behaviors is highly activated.
"One notable finding was that the brain scans were nearly identical for the low-level and high-level forms of improvisation, thus supporting the researchers’ hypothesis that the change in neural activity was due to creativity and not the complexity of the task" (Limb and Braun, 2008).
"One notable finding was that the brain scans were nearly identical for the low-level and high-level forms of improvisation, thus supporting the researchers’ hypothesis that the change in neural activity was due to creativity and not the complexity of the task" (Limb and Braun, 2008).