Learning Artistic Skills Alters the Brain

In a recent study published in the journal Neuroimage, researchers from Dartmouth College reported that taking an introductory class in painting or drawing literally alters students’ brains. Furthermore, the training-induced changes didn’t only improve the fine motor control needed for sophisticated sketching — they also boosted the students’ creative thinking capabilities. The study featured 35 college undergraduates, 17 of whom took a three-month introductory course in observational drawing or painting. All underwent monthly brain scans using fMRI technology. At the beginning and end of the study, all participants completed a standard test of creative thinking, which measures factors such as fluency, originality and the creative use of imagery and language. The results of the study showed that the art students improved in the ability to quickly translate observations of human figures into gesture drawings, and that fine-grained patterns of drawing-related neural activity in the cerebellum and cerebral cortex increasingly differentiated the art students from the control group over the course of the study. Additionally, researchers also observed changes in the students’ prefrontal white matter that corresponded to an increase in their ability to think creatively. To read more about this study, click here.