Brain damage affects artistic skill

Researchers in the US felt that artistic skill is often preserved after brain damage. It's not really known how the brain influences artistic creativity. But you might assume that brain damage from a stroke, dementia, or trauma - would destroy your ability to create. Researchers at University of Dallas, set out to look at how professional and amateur artists, as well as those with no interest in visual art, fared when they suffered some kind of damage to their brain.

For professional artists, it's still possible for some of them to produce work of high quality after brain damage. The style may change and whether the work is better or worse is open to debate! For amateur artists, similar changes of style are often seen and it's important to note that artistic ability often persists when other cognitive skills - like memory - have deteriorated. The surprising part is the emergence of artistic talent, following brain damage, among those who previously had little talent or interest.