When rappers slip into freestyle mode — as opposed to using pre-existing lyrics — their brain activates a unique neural network that may enable creativity and improvisation. Researchers from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) used MRIs to study the brain activity of 12 freestyle rap artists. (Interestingly, researchers used only performers who have been rapping for at least five years.) The scientists scanned the rappers’ brains as they performed two different activities