Good for the Heart, Good for the Soul: The Creative Arts and Brain Health in Later Life

Abstract

The human brain supports-perhaps thrives on- creative activity and certain types of creative challenges-ones that may foster repair and growth of brain structures and their attendant behaviors. Any artist who has had the opportunity to do creative arts work with elders has the heartfelt knowledge that this work has a positive impact on people's mood, cognitive vitality, and general sense of well-being. They see and feel the transformations. But is there any research to support the anecdotal evidence? And from a biological perspective, why would participating in creative arts programs have positive effects on body and mind? Are there any plausible mechanisms to explain how the creative arts could influence the trajectory of human cognitive health? This article will review some of the direct evidence that participation in arts programs does improve cognitive performance. It will also explore more speculative ideas about the evolution of the creative brain, and how the human brain supports-and perhaps thrives on-creative activity and certain types of creative challenges that may foster repair and growth of brain structures and their attendant behaviors. Developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, who introduced the important concept of multiple presented a significant challenge to the notion that intelligence is a single general capacity possessed, to a greater or lesser degree, by everyone (Gardner, 1983). Instead, he suggested that people possess different types of intelligence, each type manifesting within the context of specific tasks, domains, and disciplines. This pluralistic view of intelligence (and creativity) implies that there is no single route to the truth: only by expressing the full range of our creative intelligences can we capture the breadth, depth, and splendor of our existence throughout the life course. In a similar vein, biologist E. O. Wilson observes that both the humanities and the sciences search for truth, but approach the quest from uniquely different vantage points (Wilson, 1998). We can be most confident that we have located a truth, he says, when both fields converge around similar conclusions. Wilson used the word consilience to describe this linkage, or coming together, of principles from different disciplines. Finally, this article will take a look at the consilience of creative arts and brain health, examining how participation in creative arts programs exercises multiple cognitive, physiological, and emotional intelligences, and how this exertion might delay or prevent cognitive decline. Direct Evidence: A Case for the Arts In 2001, Dr. Gene Cohen conducted the first comprehensive research program to test the hypothesis that participation in the arts has health and cognitive benefits. The Creativity and Aging Study was a multisite, longitudinal study that had the goal of measuring the impact of professionally conducted community-based cultural programs on the general health, mental health, and social activities of adults aged 65 and older (Cohen et al., 2006). The study was conducted in three locations around the country in conjunction with the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C., Elders Share the Arts (ESTA) in New York, and the Center for Elders and Youth in the Arts in San Francisco-cultural programs with a diverse array of participatory arts offerings. The study used two groups from each location: an intervention group that participated in arts programs and a control group that did not. Cohen perceived a number of possible mechanisms at work that could lead to positive outcomes. He characterized one important mechanism as self-mastery; participants develop a strong sense of control and self-confidence because of their deep involvement in the creative process. They experience and benefit from the challenge and satisfaction of artistic achievement. Artistic achievement, in this case, is distinct from accomplishing arts and crafts activities. …

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