Art and Neurodegenerative Disease

The distinct topics of neurodegenerative disease and art are usually not brought up together, which made Dr. Miller's talk relating the two all the more interesting. Dr. Miller studies the relationship between frontotemporal dementia patients and creativity, as areas correlated with producing art are similar to the brain areas affected by this type of dementia. Miller provided an array of cases of patients using this handicap to their advantage. Throughout the talk, there were many examples of these patients having an expanded ability in the visual arts; however, I wondered, would this be applicable to distant forms of art as well? It was clear that the affected areas of visuospatial processing, which inherently affects how we process artwork visually, but are there analogous deficits that would improve musical or lyrical composition abilities, or affect cinematic creativity? Although this talk covered a lot, especially information that is relevant to this class, it left me curious for more. Not only was this lecture enjoyable to attend, it holds great value for the future of science. The ability to create and interpret art is a uniquely human capability; understanding the processes behind this could pave the way to a better understanding on what neurological features make us distinctly human.