Sequence Generation and Evaluation
A Novel Assessment of Musical Creativity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21611930 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Psyche Loui (0000-0001-7664-6092, Northeastern University, corresponding author), Corinna Parrish (Northeastern University), Xiaotong Wu (0000-0003-3262-9420, Universidad del Noreste), Jethro Lee (Northeastern University), Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis (0000-0002-0250-8348, Princeton University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 210-224 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Creativity Research Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1040-0419 • E-ISSN: 1532-6934 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10400419.2024.2425494 |
| PMID | 41041611 |
| OpenAlex | W4404202058 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 60 |
Music is often considered an important domain for creativity. Traditional studies of musical creativity have examined musical improvisation using jazz as a model. While this approach has yielded many valuable insights about creativity's cognitive and neural mechanisms, it has limited the study sample to those with the means to engage in improvisation within one specific Western style. Here we introduce a novel tool for assessing musical creativity in the broader sample of individuals with no specialized training. In two experiments (n = 165) we show that this sequencer can be used in people with minimal training to generate a database of sequences composed in the Bohlen-Pierce scale, and to evaluate them for creativity. Results show that creativity ratings are predicted by length of melodies, number of distinct pitches used, and information content of pitch intervals. Results also show some external validity with existing creativity tasks. We advocate the use of this sequencer in creativity research, as it provides a theoretically motivated, rigorous tool to examine the iterative process of producing and evaluating musical creativity
Art · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Creativity · Musical · Visual arts · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Diverse Music Education Insights · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |