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Explore the relationship between dementia and creativity, highlighting how art can be preserved even when other cognitive functions are failing. Discover the connection between language impairment and preserved art expression.
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Creativity ,Dementia and Brain Reserve Capacity L Fornazzari, C Fischer, M Saragosa L Ringer Memory Clinic St Michael Hospital University of Toronto, Canada
The preservation of Art when other cerebral functions are failing - another precious legacy from artistsLuis Fornazzari MD FRCPCMemory Disorders ClinicSt. Michael’s HospitalDivision of Neurology, Department of PsychiatryUniversity of Toronto
Artful minds have been with us for more than 50,000 yearsbut the process probably took millions of years to develop
Art and other cognitive functions represent diverse communication forms, each with potentially infinite combinations.
Regardless of the timing, both modes of human communication, art and cognition, relied on pre-existing brain mechanisms that supported the highly abstract metaphorically thinking of the human brain.
But both are not necessarily related:Language may be severely affected, while art expression and comprehension are preserved with minimal impairment or no impairment at all.
Bilingualism Arts
“de Kooning’s late colours and forms: dementia, creativity, and the healing power of art.” Espinel CH. Lancet 1996 Apr 20;347(9008):1096-8.
Brain surface projection of activated areas during passive music listening in control subjects and musicians Source: Ohnishi T, Matsuda H, Asada T, et al. “Functional Anatomy of Musical Perception in Musicians. Cerebral Cortex, Aug 2001;11:754-760
“Maurice Ravel and right-hemisphere musical creativity: influence of disease on hislast musical works?” Amaducci L, Grassi E, Boller F. Eur J Neurol, 2002; 9:75-82.
Ravel’sBrain By Justine Sergent
“I had to go on writing, because I wouldn’t be able to go on without writing. It is the only function that works for me, and without a function, we die”Farley Mowat, Sept 2006, at 85 years of age
“The effects of very early Alzheimer’s disease on the characteristics of writing by a renowned author” P Garrard, L M Maloney, J R Hodges, K Patterson Brain. (2005) 128, 250-260
“My rewards have been great. Friends have helped. The documentation of me in the Who’s Who books on both sides of the pond please me and validate me to me. I can go and look at them and reaffirm my work and my having been here. But the greatest reward are the work itself, that its been a good life and that it’s been a good way to live. Coming up seventy, I’ve survived and enjoyed it and look forward to each day I’m granted”MH
“I’m not cutting edge; I am perhaps a synthesizer. I call myself Impressionist/Expressionist. The sources from Byzantine, Medieval Art, German Expressionist Art, pre and post World Wars I&II, the Holocaust in Germany and the other Holocaust in Japan, and the deaths in my family. I can also see the abstract qualities of the pulls and balances in my work. I guess that’s the XX Century”M. H
“In 1970 I left the USA for Canada. In ’68 I had said I would leave if Nixon gained office. He did, so I did”
CNS lesions: White matter lesions Brain atrophy Plaques, tangles Vascular damage Metabolic/Endocrine disease Injury Clinical Expression of Disease Influencing Factors: Genes Early Social and Material Environment Educational & Occupational Attainment Physical Health Health Behaviours & Lifestyle Bilingualism Art Other Influences on Disease Expression: Personality Health Service Delivery and Uptake Cultural norms Brain Size & Function: Neural Network Density & Complexity Premorbid Cognitive Ability Processing Capacity & Efficiency Richards & Deary: Cognitive Aging and Development
I like for you to be still I like for you to be still it is as though you were absent and you hear me from far away and my voice does not touch you. It seems as though your eyes had flown away and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth. Pablo Neruda, 1924 “Twenty Love poems and a song of Despair”
An Idiomatic Plea • The presentation today was not a piece of cake. I skateon thin ice, but not in hot water, I hope. I intended to rock your brains, so don’t loseyour grip, but hold your horses and bury thehatched when you speak your mind. Please don’t give me the cold shoulder, because I would givethe world for your comments. Naturally I would like to leave this conference with flying colours and not under the weather.