van Buren, Benjamin; Bromberger, Bianca; Potts, Daniel; Miller, Bruce; Chatterjee, Anjan
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Vol 7(1), Feb 2013

Abstract

A substantial body of literature supports the idea that systematic changes can occur in artists’ painting styles after the onset of degenerating neurological illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease or Fronto-temporal dementia. However, these studies have typically been descriptive and qualitative in their analyses. Our study was motivated to show that quantitative methods can be applied to the neuropsychology of art production and to determine whether there are systematic changes in the art produced by two individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Using the Assessment of Art Attributes which probes 6 formal characteristics (depth, color temperature, color saturation, balance, stroke, and simplicity) and 6 conceptual characteristics (depictive accuracy, abstractness, emotion, symbolism, realism, and animacy), we found that both AD patients produced paintings with more abstraction and use of symbolism and with less depictive accuracy and realism. Their paintings did not change in the use of depth, or balance or in the quality of their stroke. When these observations are combined with those made recently in 3 artists with focal brain damage, we find that conceptual more than formal perceptual attributes are susceptible to change after neurological illness.

©2013 American Psychological Association

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Examples of paintings done by Lester Potts, titled The Broken Jar (painted about 2003), The Blue Collage (2004), and The Last Birdhouse (2005). Copyright permission obtained from Daniel Potts

Anjan Chatterjee, MD, FAAN

Anjan Chatterjee is a Professor of Neurology, and a member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Center for Neuroscience and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his BA in Philosophy from Haverford College and MD from the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical practice focuses on patients with cognitive disorders. His research focuses on spatial cognition and language, attention, neuroethics, and neuroaesthetics. He co-edited: Neuroethics in Practice: Mind, Medicine, and Society. His co-edited book The Roots of Cognitive Neuroscience: behavioral neurology and neuropsychology and a single authored book, The Aesthetic Brain, are forthcoming. He is on the editorial boards of: Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Behavioural Neurology, Neuropsychology, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, European Neurology, Empirical Studies of the Arts. American Journal of Bioethics: Neuroscience, and Policy Studies in Ethics, Law and Technology. He was awarded the 2002 Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology by the American Academy of Neurology. He is a founding member of the Board of Governors of the Neuroethics Society, the President of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, and the President of the Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Society. He is on the Board of Haverford College, the Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Universal Promise.

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