Research shows that improvisation and creativity are good for the brain. In an episode of the Greater Good Science Center’s “Science of Happiness” podcast, host Shuka Kalantari talked to Karen Barrett about what happens in the brain when people improvise _music. Barrett is an assistant professor in the Institute for Health & Aging at the University of California, San Francisco who researches the effects of music on aging and health.

Shuka Kalantari:  What led you to improv?

Karen Barrett: My dad was a scientist and classical guitarist, and my mom played piano. So I actually started playing piano when I was 5 years old and ended up going to Wellesley College to double-major in music and neuroscience.

I did my master’s in piano performance and then found out about this Ph.D. in music cognition which could blend music and neuroscience. That’s how I got started on this career path.

Then, I started my postdoc at UCSF with Charles Limb, who’s a jazz musician. He was a big improviser and was already studying it. I found it a little bit magical and fascinating because it’s not something I do very easily.

 I think improv has made me less rigid. There’s no right or wrong way; there just is. If you make a mistake, do it over and over again, and it’s no longer a mistake. It can lead you to your next motive.

Kalantari:  What happens in the brain when a person is playing something memorized versus improvised?

Barrett:   Music is what we call multimodal. It activates all sorts of........

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