NIH Researchers Use MRI To Study Brains Of Freestyle Rappers.

The Los Angeles Times (11/16, Bardin) “Science Now” blog reports that “professional rappers have teamed up with researchers from the National Institutes of Health to study what happens in the brain during freestyle rapping.” The research, “published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, suggest that the process is similar to that of other spontaneous creative acts, including jazz improvisation.” The research “was initiated by the Los Angeles-based rappers Daniel Rizik-Baer and Michael Eagle and carried out by Allen Braun and Siyuan Liu of the NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.”

AFP (11/16) reports, “Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers compared the freestyle brain photos with those captured when the rappers repeated well-rehearsed lyrics.” The investigators “noticed a ‘functional reorganisation’ during the freestyle phase in the singers’ prefrontal cortex – an area of the brain associated with complex cognitive behaviour and decision making.”

Related Links:

— “This is your brain on freestyle rap, “Jon Bardin, Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2012.

Posted in In The News.