Cognitive Processes in Improvisation

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses cognitive processes in improvisation. Improvisation is thus central to the formation of new ideas in all areas of human endeavor. Its importance experientially rests with its magical and self-liberating qualities. Its importance scientifically is that it presents one with the clearest, least edited version of how one think, encoded in behavior. It is among the time-based arts, namely music, dance, theatre and mime that one find the greatest literature. From a survey of this material, certain facts emerge quite consistently, and allow the formulation of plausible cognitive models for improvisation. Much of the variety of improvisation comes from the many different types of referent which may be used, and the many kinds of relationships the improviser may choose to set up between the referent and the sounds, movement, words, etc., that constitute the improvised behavior.

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