Parkinson's disease and changes in the appreciation of art: A comparison of aesthetic and formal evaluations of paintings between PD patients and healthy controls.

Parkinson's disease and changes in the appreciation of art: A comparison of aesthetic and formal evaluations of paintings between PD patients and healthy controls. Brain Cogn. 2019 Sep 03;136:103597 Authors: Lauring JO, Pelowski M, Specker E, Ishizu T, Haugbøl S, Hollunder B, Leder H, Stender J, Kupers R Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressing neurodegenerative disease predominantly involving the loss of dopamine producing neurons with hallmark symptoms of motor disorders and cognitive, motivational, emotional, and perceptual impairments. Intriguingly, PD can also be connected-often anecdotally-with a sudden burst of artistic creativity, motivation, or changed quality/style of produced art. This has led to growing empirical interest, promising a window into brain function and the unique neurological signature of artists. This topic also fits a growing interest from researchers in other areas, including Alzheimer's or other dementia, which have suggested that specific changes in art production/appraisal may provide a unique basis for therapy, diagnosis, or understanding of these diseases. However, whether PD also shows similar impacts on how we perceive and evaluate art has never been systematically addressed. We compared a cohort of PD patients against age-matched healthy controls, asking participants to rate paintings using scales of liking and beauty and terms pertaining to artworks' formal and conceptual qualities prev...
Source: Brain and Cognition - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Brain Cogn Source Type: research