Body maps for feeling of creativity in musical chord progression

• Musical uncertainty and surprise evoke embodied feelings of creativity. • Heart sensations correlate with the subjective feeling of creativity. • Creativity arises from an interplay between predictive and interoceptive processes. • Predictable chord progressions enhance beauty and valence rather than creativity. • Creativity reflects embodied emotion beyond cognitive novelty detection. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of the human experience, enabling individuals to generate innovative ideas and artistic expressions including music. Although creativity is frequently framed as the ability to produce novel information, the mechanisms by which perceptions of creativity arise from this information—and their subsequent effects on our minds and bodies—remain inadequately understood. This study investigates how musical stimuli evoke feelings of creativity through predictive mechanisms, while also examining the role of interoceptive bodily sensations, particularly those linked to the heart and stomach regions. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between interoceptive sensibility and the intensity of the feeling of creativity. By employing body-mapping assessments and emotional evaluations on 353 participants exposed to various chord progressions, we revealed the critical role of heart sensations in eliciting feelings of creativity. Our findings indicate that musical chord progressions characterized by high uncertainty and surprise generated heightened feelings of creativity alongside increased arousal. Notably, heart sensations correlated positively with the feeling of creativity, suggesting the crucial role of interoceptive bodily sensations in the experience of creativity. In contrast, the feelings of beauty and valence were more strongly influenced by predictable, low-uncertainty progressions, suggesting that the feelings of creativity may operate through a somewhat different cognitive mechanism than that of beauty and valence. This study highlights the complex interplay between bodily sensations and feelings of creativity based on predictive processing. By framing creativity within the framework of interoception, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of the emotional and embodied processes that shape the experience of creativity. Future research should explore these relationships to enrich our comprehension of creativity in both artistic endeavors and everyday life.