Dementia has long been linked to the loss of cognitive capacities. Meanwhile, recent research has discovered a fascinating phenomenon: some people with particular types of dementia display startling bursts of creativity. Both scientists and artists are now examining the complex relationship between the two in light of the unexpected link between cognitive decline and creativity.

Memory loss and cognitive decline that determine a person’s identity have historically been seen as negative effects of dementia. Memory loss and cognitive impairment are two features that frequently characterize Alzheimer’s disease, the most prevalent type of dementia. Nonetheless, some people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias related to it have demonstrated artistic aptitude and creative talents that seem to get better as their cognitive functions decline. These new abilities appear to have emerged at the beginning of the disorder.

Formerly called Pick’s Disease, this dementia brings about changes in brain connections, which, according to researchers, may be the cause of this contradictory association between dementia and creativity. A novel and inventive concept may arise as certain neural routes fail, possibly opening up new, less common neural pathways. This may help to explain why some people who may not have previously shown an aptitude for the arts suddenly demonstrate it through their writing, singing, or other creative endeavors. The brain appears to respond to destruction in a manner unthought of previously, and it apparently releases new areas to work unlike before.

The famed abstract expressionist artist Willem de Kooning is one of the best-known examples of creativity coming back from dementia. In his later years, De Kooning received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, but he still created amazing works of art despite his cognitive impairment. Similar instances of people with dementia making complex visual art, composing music, and recounting stories on the spot have been reported.

Vincent van Gogh may have been afflicted with this form of dementia, and here the speculation about age, dementia, and creativity merge if not sufficiently, to raise our curiosity. The protective factor of creativity is one of the more interesting aspects of how the brain might react to some intrusion bringing about mental change. It is a gain of function in a time of neurodegeneration, and that seems more than unusual.

Another example of this type of dementia-driven creativity can be found in the work of Ravel. One melodic clause appears again in his piece “Boléro,” which lasts fifteen minutes. This repetitive behavior may be a sign of FTD patients’ tendency toward obsessive repetition.

First discovered by Bruce Miller at a VA in California, the disease is related to which side of the brain is being attacked and its abilities diminished. In one study of people with FTD, the left temporal lobe had gotten worse, but at the same time, areas of the brain involved in processing visual information had become overactive. Researchers are now beginning to study this unusual creativity of dementia and the normal brains of creative people.

The complexity of the human brain can be better understood by understanding this phenomenon, which also has implications for treatment methods. Participating in artistic activities with people who have dementia may improve their quality of life by giving them a way to express themselves and a way to cope with the frustrations of cognitive loss. Sometimes, this creative ability may appear when speech is lost as in the case of the biologist Anne Adams. To activate these dormant creative capacities, dementia care has already investigated art therapy and other creative approaches.

The surprisingly high level of creativity linked to some forms of dementia has shown the complex link between cognitive decline and artistic expression. By highlighting the potential for creative growth even in the context of neurological diseases, this phenomenon contradicts traditional ideas of dementia as only a degenerative condition.

Investigating this link advances our knowledge of the human brain and creates opportunities for cutting-edge therapeutic strategies. We are still wandering in the vast and highly secretive forest of the brain, and, thus far, the roads we have found have revealed unexpected opportunities for treatments far afield from what we usually prescribe.

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With the rise of the COVID19 pandemic, many of us have an increasing volume of work interactions mediated through computer screens.

The workplace is changing: The National Bureau of Economic Research in the United States offers that when the pandemic comes to a close, 20 percent of workdays will be from home, compared with five percent in the per-COVID19 era.

I attended my institution’s multidisciplinary tumor board this morning. More than a dozen clinicians gather to review each patient’s management. Everyone puts eyes on the diagnostic images, pathology slides, and more. I think of tumor boards as collective intelligence.

But do we make better and more creative solutions face-to-face? This is my question today and one that thousands of businesses are asking themselves.

Now, Columbia University Business investigators provide some answers in a study recently published in Nature.

Virtual meetings and creativity

Melanie Brucks, of Columbia Business School (USA) and author of the study, recruited 602 people, including university students and staff.

She and her team divided the subjects by working in pairs, either virtually or in person. Assigned tasks included creating new uses for everyday items (such as bubble wrap), with each room having the same five items.

The researchers analyzed the performance of each pair in two ways:

• How many ideas did they create? And how novel and valuable did the ideas seem? For example, one could use a Frisbee to deliver a message. Using the frisbee as a hat? Not so creative. Student judges took charge of evaluating the ideas generated.
• Eye-tracking software.

Here are the findings: The eye-tracking software found that virtual subjects spent more time looking directly at their partner than gazing around the room.

In addition, the videoconferencing pairs remembered less about their surroundings than those meeting in person.

Speaking to CNN, postdoctoral scholar Jay Olson of McGill University (Canada) explains that people often look to their surroundings to help generate new ideas. I know that I do.

Virtual meetings and creativity in the real world

Yes, Michael, you offer. But what about outside of the artificial laboratory setting? Are in-person meetings truly better than virtual ones?

We get an answer in a larger research investigation, one looking at nearly 1,500 engineers working in five countries (in South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe) for a telecommunications infrastructure company.

Researchers randomly paired the subjects, assigning them to work face-to-face or through videoconferencing. The assignment? Create product ideas and select one to submit as a new product.

The real-world test yielded results similar to the laboratory ones, with the field study showing the negative effects of videoconferencing on idea generation.

The field study did not show any videoconferencing-induced impairment of collaborative work. Generating ideas appeared easier in person, but critical evaluation of creative ideas (such as choosing the best idea of a set) did not appear impaired by the video approach.

Are virtual meetings bad for creativity?

The studies reviewed are illuminating but do not mean that videoconferencing is contraindicated regarding creative endeavors.

Common sense tells me that the type of creative task matters. I know that for some tasks, I am most creative working alone! Full disclosure: I’m not too fond of meetings that are not truly needed and want them to be agenda-driven and focused. Poorly-run meetings suck the life force out of me (and make me a bit grumpy). My bête noir.

Where I find face-to-face meetings particularly valuable is brainstorming sessions. In the studies reviewed, the number of additional ideas generated by the in-person group appeared small.

What say you?

The post Are Virtual Meetings Stifling Your Creativity? appeared first on Medika Life.

“I love the quality of pencil. It helps me to get to the core of a thing.” Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth, one of the great American artists of the 20th Century, knew that drawing enabled us not merely to see, but learn. View his famous Christina’s World, and you may understand the woman’s disability a bit more.

But there’s more to drawing than depicting people. Drawing is learning, and it was a fact a biology professor drilled into us as undergraduates. As we sat at our microscopes, he instructed us to pull out a pencil and plain paper. What? Weren’t we going to look at slides of plant cells?

Yes, but the learning process entailed a bit of drawing.

So I patiently learned to draw liverworts and single-cell amebas and the cells of those long plants they put into fish tanks. And in drawing, I learned and put a picture of the cells into my memory banks that remain there to this day.

Drawing and Coloring Explained

As writing incorporates a greater degree of brainpower, involving as it does our muscles, portions of our brain involved in decision-making and elaboration of intent and memory, drawing does much the same.

A research paper delved into the power of drawing as a tool not only for learning new material but in helping those with dementia.

“…the simplicity of this strategy means it can be used by people with cognitive impairments to enhance memory, with preliminary findings suggesting measurable gains in performance in both normally aging individuals and patients with dementia

Drawing has been a research topic for professionals seeking ways to improve learning and divining how drawing might enhance it.Studies have shown, hands down, that drawing was a winning method of learning.

“…experiments indicate that drawing enhances memory relative to writing, across settings, instructions, and alternate encoding strategies…We propose that drawing improves memory by encouraging a seamless integration of semantic, visual, and motor aspects of a memory trace.”

The Brain Awaits

Lifelong learning, as we’ve seen in studies of cognition, is one way to preserve our quality of life. Coloring books may play an integral role in that learning. But why coloring books for adults?

Ok, personal example time here. I have always loved biology, and ever since that first professor told us to draw what we saw in our microscopes, I’ve been intrigued by the brain. The problem has always been that I need reinforcement on brain structures, and that’s where my coloring book came in handy.

I have ordered my third copy of “The Human Brain Coloring Book” and a set of coloring pencils to go with it. I’m more responsive to visual stimuli than text, so this is perfect for me. The book is on its way, and I intend to begin coloring as soon as it arrives.

But, you may be thinking, isn’t there a difference between coloring to learn something and the adult coloring books that are available? Yes, there is.

The adult coloring books I’ve seen are of several different types from intricate, almost psychedelic designs to scenes in nature or copies of famous paintings. All of them provide a period of relaxation for the brain from the stresses of life.

Coloring has also been used with cancer patients to aid them in relieving the stress of their illness and their therapies. A study found “ statistically significantly greater decreases in symptoms of distress…” This type of mindfulness, therefore, is beneficial for patients with medical illness and who may be receiving treatments that might be stressful.

While coloring may not seem like artwork, it is because you are providing the essential talent in terms of color. Artwork, of any type, can also help hospitalized patients deal with chronic illness or disability and may shorten hospital stays.

If you’d like to try coloring, you can download free coloring pages here or pages for kids here. The only thing you need now are a few coloring pencils, and you are on your way to relaxation and brain enhancement.

Immersing yourself in coloring has another benefit; decreased decision fatigue. It’s a fancy term meaning you are overloaded daily with decisions. How can your brain possibly do that without a bit of rest, and coloring provides it.

Sleep is one answer, but sleep alone isn’t the answer you need and a simple task like coloring may be “just what the doctor ordered.”

Isn’t Adult Coloring a Silly Thing?

Life is change and making decisions that are good for you. If someone is so unenlightened that they fail to see the benefit in coloring, point them to this article.

Print this article out, keep it in your desk drawer or hang it on the fridge in the kitchen and look at it frequently. Let it be your printed talisman for health.

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