We examined the signatures of music improvisation following a targeted manipulation that involves a mirroring task. In 18 pairs participants completed a solo music improvisation performance using a percussion instrument (cajon), a mirroring task with a partner, and joint music improvisation. Across pairs, we manipulated three different types of mirroring to examine its effects on coordination during joint music improvisation (Hierarchical mirroring, partner A leading and partner B following; Turn-Taking mirroring, partner A leading the first half and partner B leading the latter half; and Egalitarian mirroring, partners co-creating spontaneous movement together). From audio recordings, we extracted signatures of interpersonal coordination from the acoustic performances using cross-correlation. There were only marginally significant differences in interpersonal coordination during improvisation, with pairs in the Turn-Taking condition exhibiting lower levels of cross-correlation than in the Egalitarian condition. This work provides some initial theoretical insights about downstream effects of interpersonal dynamics on music improvisation.

Collective improvisation is remarkable. When people improvise—whether dancing, making music, or conversing— they coordinate their behavior while exploring abstract spaces of movements, sounds, and ideas. How do improvisers navigate these abstract spaces? One possibility is that improvisation builds on foraging strategies used to search the physical world. Here, we investigate the dynamics of an especially complex and abstract form of collective improvisation: free jazz. We quantify how professional jazz ensembles navigate a space of sounds and show that it resembles a foraging strategy known as Area Restricted Search. In particular, ensembles change their playing dynamics in response to encounters with novel ‘soundworlds.' Before encountering a new soundworld, ensembles engage in widespread exploration; immediately after, they shift to focused exploitation of the new sound. While collective improvisation pushes at our cognitive limits and is a paradigm of human creativity, it may build on evolutionarilyancient strategies for searching space.