It's official - artists' brains are wired differently!

Can artists' imagination and creativity be explained through biology? Possibly.

'What am I in the eyes of most people a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.', said Vincent Van Gogh, an artist whose paintings are worth millions of dollars now, but the painter himself lived in obscurity and ultimately committed suicide.

What is it that made him recognise his talent despite the world not validating it? Can artists' imagination and creativity be explained through biology? Possibly. A study published in the journal NeuroImage indicates that their brains show structural differences from those of non-artists.

Researchers scanned the brains of 21 art students and 23 students in other disciplines using a method known as voxel-based morphometry.

Comparisons between the two groups revealed that the artists had increased neural matter in the areas of the brain associated with visual imagery and fine motor movements. The authors of the study point out that this does not necessarily mean that the artists' talents are innate, as training and environment play an undeniable role.

In addition to undergoing a brain scan, each of the study's participants completed specific drawing tasks, and their performance in these exercises was evaluated. The researchers noted that stronger performance in the drawing tasks was associated with increased amounts of grey and white brain matter in the brain's motor areas. Read more about why you need to read, in order to live.

The artists' scans also showed higher quantities of grey matter in the precuneus, an area of the brain's parietal lobe that is associated with visual imagery and is thought to be involved in the ability to imagine, deconstruct and combine images.

Finally, the study contradicts the popularly held belief that artists mainly use their right brain: increased neural matter in specific areas of artists' brains was seen on both the left and the right sides.

With inputs from AFP/RELAXNEWS

Image source: Wikipedia

You may also like to read:

• The importance of EQ
• The ability to stay positive may be hardwired in the brain
• 5 reasons playing a musical instrument is great for your brain
• Endurance sports is good for your brain too!

For more such articles, visit our body-mind-soul section. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest updates! For daily free health tips, sign up for our newsletter. And to join discussions on health topics of your choice, visit our forum.