Art and aphasia

April 9, 2008 7:45 AM

"We used to think dementias hit the brain diffusely," Dr. Miller said. "Nothing was anatomically specific. That is wrong." Thus some patients with FTD develop artistic abilities when frontal brain areas decline and posterior regions take over. Lucky for us, one of the patients in question has a sampling of her work available on the web.

While Dr. Anne Adams was losing her ability to speak due to Fronto-Temporal Dementia, she began producing fascinating art.

In fact, her aphasia, her attention to geometric, biological and mathematical patterns, and her knack for photorealistic visual detail may all have come from the very same set of neurological changes [free abstract; journal access restricted, alas].

And you know who else had aphasia and enjoyed expressive yet repetitive patterns? [youtube] Maurice Ravel, that's who! No surprise, then, that Dr. Adams drew some inspiration from his work.

posted by nebulawindphone (6 comments total)

This deals a bit of a blow to the modern orthodox idea that mental illness does not feed and enhance artistic output. When I took abnormal psych, the instructor was adamant that depression, hallucinations, delusions, &c. never affected art positively because "these illnesses impair the ability to work."

The idea that artistic work doesn't necessarily require exactly the same mental abilities as normal drudgery was a bone of contention between us.

I made a bad grade.
posted by sonic meat machine at 8:07 AM on April 9, 2008

I must be losing my mind - I could swear this was on MeFi day before yesterday.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:09 AM on April 9, 2008

Thank you Kirth. Different links, same subject.

Admins? Do your thing.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:19 AM on April 9, 2008

When I took abnormal psych, the instructor was adamant that depression, hallucinations, delusions, &c. never affected art positively because "these illnesses impair the ability to work."

I imagine most pointy-haired PhDs don't spend much time with real artists behind the scenes.

Most of them seem to be fucking bugfuck crazy. The art is often a compulsive manifestation of this. At least the good art is, anyway.

(I am an artist, and arguably bugfuck crazy.)
posted by loquacious at 8:26 AM on April 9, 2008

That other Adams guy who writes the Dilbert comic strip wrote about his experience with aphasia... he posted some really cool blogs about it, and how he was able to restore his speech temporarily by speaking in rhyme!
posted by illuminatus at 8:30 AM on April 9, 2008

... Also I know that cause it was posted here on MeFi :)
posted by illuminatus at 8:31 AM on April 9, 2008