Creativity and neuroplasticity - Brain health

In this newsletter:
- Creativity
- Betty Edwards
- Exhibit A - my friend
- Exhibit B - my daughter
- Exhibit C - Nilo Cruz, playwright

Creativity 

“Brain plasticity (neuroplasticity):
In general, the term refers to the ability of the brain and nervous system to change structurally and functionally as a result of input from the environment. Recent research shows that the brain can, and does, change both its physical structure and its functional organization, actually creating new neural maps in response to new information, experiences, or learning.”
- Betty Edward, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain 

I can't draw. I'm not artistic. I'm not creative. 

That's what I used to tell myself.

Little did I know, we can actually learn to be more artistic with minimal training.

As art teacher, Betty Edwards suggests in that quote above, the brain can improve "in response to new information, experiences, or learning," because of its "plasticity." 

This is huge. And here's an example. 

Look at this page from Edwards's book. It shows examples of some of her students' pre-instruction and post-instruction self-portraits.

What's remarkable is each improvement happened in only FOUR days of instruction.  

Betty Edwards

Betty Edwards is an American art teacher and author of the well-known book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

The drawing exercises in the book are basic, designed for beginners, for persons who cannot draw at all, who feel they have no talent for drawing, and who believe they are unable to learn to draw.

She talks about research on the brain’s plasticity and the enormous value of learning new skills that utilize the right hemisphere of the brain.

The strengths of the right hemisphere can be an antidote to the left-brain emphasis and worship of everything linear, analytic, digital, etc.

Drawing has always frightened me. That’s what drew me to Edwards' book.

Most people view drawing as a natural gift. You have it or you don't.

She says there are basic, learnable components of drawing.

They are seeing skills, she says. The ability to perceive edges, spaces, relationships, lights and shadows, and the whole.

To draw, we need to learn each of these component skills.

Her book is not only about drawing. “The true subject is perception.”

“The larger underlying purpose was always to bring right hemisphere functions into focus and to teach readers how to see in new ways, with hopes that they would discover how to transfer perceptual skills to thinking and problem solving. In education, this is called ”transfer of learning.”

Transfer of learning, says Edwards, is achieved by direct teaching, and she provides some instruction on how perceptual skills, learned by drawing, can help with thinking and problem solving in other fields. Edwards writes:

"I have said many times that the lessons in this book are not on the level of art, but are rather more like learning how to read - more like the ABCs of reading: learning the alphabet, phonics, syllabification, vocabulary, and so on. And just as learning basic reading is a vitally important goal, because the skills of reading transfer to every other kind of learning, from math and science to philosophy and astronomy, I believe that in time learning to draw will emerge as an equally vital skill, one that provides equally transferrable powers of perception to guide and promote insight into the meaning of visual and verbal information."

She says she learned, while teaching students to draw, that there are only five subskills needed. "And the five skills, I realized, were not drawing skills in the usual sense; they were rock-bottom, fundamental seeing skills: how to perceive edges, spaces, relationships, lights and shadows, and the gestalt [the whole picture]."

She adds: "Our education system seems bent on eliminating every last bit of creative perceptual training of the right side of the brain, while overemphasizing the skills best accomplished by the left side of the brain: memorizing dates, data, theorems, and events with the goal of passing standardized tests. Today we are not only testing and grading our children into the ground, but we are not teaching them how to see and understand the deep meaning of what they learn, or to perceive the connectedness of information about the world. It is indeed time to try something different." 

She brings up this quote:

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
- Albert Einstein

Edwards argues that learning to draw, like learning to read, does not depend on "talent." Anyone can learn to draw well with some simple lessons. And we can learn to transfer the basic perceptual components of drawing to other forms of learning and thinking. 

She is encouraged by the progress of discoveries of how the human brain can physically change by being exposed to new ideas and routines, new ways of thinking, and by learning new skills. "New neural pathways in your brain form as a result of repeating new learning."

Complement this with Sanjay Gupta MD's well-researched book Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age.

Dr. Gupta references a lot of deep research in his book explaining to us "we can significantly optimize our brains in a variety of ways to improve its functionality, boost its neuronal networks, stimulate the growth of new neurons, and help stave off age-related brain illnesses. Cognitive decline is not inevitable."

Gupta says the brain is "a lot less static than we thought." The brain is constantly changing throughout our lives. "It's alive, growing, learning, and changing."  

He says the brain is "plastic" and can rewire itself through learning and experience. 

From Keep Sharp:

"Organic matter, especially nervous tissue, seems endowed with a very extraordinary degree of plasticity." 
- William James, MD, Harvard University psychologist, The Principles of Psychology (1890)

Gupta quotes Dr. Michael Merzenich who said, "Older people are absolute masters at encouraging plastic brain change in the wrong direction." 

Gupta says our brains change through our behaviors and patterns of thinking. "Bad habits have neural maps that reinforce those bad habits. Negative plasticity, for example, causes changes in neural connections that can be harmful. Negative thoughts and constant worrying can promote changes in the brain that are associated with depression and anxiety."

Gupta makes a strong case for maintaining demands on your brain, including learning and creative activities that are not job-related, to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. 

"When it comes to memory and aging, a use-it-or-lose-it concept applies." 

He says the key is the complexity of the new skill. "You need to use your mind in a manner that gets you out of your comfort zone and demands more long-term memory."

Exhibit A - my friend

Karen is an old friend and business associate. She's turning 60 next month. 

In high school, she enjoyed art classes, and was deemed talented. The art director of her school was disappointed that she did not go to college to study art.

Instead, she opted to get into the securities industry, a decision that made sense given she came from an immigrant family without much money. She did not want to become a "starving artist."

Over the years, she worked for some big Wall Street investment banks. Almost 20 years ago she started her own firm. She's a successful business woman.  

Late last year, she enrolled in a couple art classes. 

Now she's thinking about ultimately making the leap from the securities business to the creative world. I can relate.

I have included a few pieces of her artwork from just a few months ago.

Here is an acrylic piece and a charcoal one. 

As the word is getting out about her work, she has a backlog of people sending her photos asking for drawings. 

The opportunities are endless......

The next two pieces are shirts she created by bleaching flannel shirts and attaching images from old rock-and-roll concert T-shirts. 

She cut out the images from the T-shirts and attached them to the flannel shirts with adhesive and needlepoint. 

She has a back-order of people who want to buy various versions of these. 

The two presented here are of Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin (1943 - 1970).

Rock on, Karen. Thank you for letting me share your work. :)

Exhibit B - my daughter

My daughter was born with a unique artistic talent. I have a lot of conviction in that. 

As a parent of four kids, you learn how to recognize these things. 

Her edge, her advantage I think is genetic. 

After all, her maternal great-grandfather was Rollin Hamilton.

Hamilton was one of Walt Disney's first animators.

Here is a photo of Rollin Hamilton and my daughter’s portrayal of Bianca Jagger.

Bianca was Mick Jagger's first wife. 

The painting of Bianca hangs on one of the walls at my place here on the beach.

I hope my daughter remains an artist forever. 

Exhibit C - Nilo Cruz

Two nights ago, I went to the theater with a friend. 

We saw a play by Cuban-American playwright, Nilo Cruz. He won the 2003 Pulitzer Price for Drama. 

I have a strong interest in Cuba after having traveled there several years ago with a group of college alumni. 

The people are warm, talented in many ways, and well-educated.

At the same time, Cuba is testament to the miserable failure of communism.

Completely dilapidated buildings, dangerous roads, citizens using government-issued food coupons to buy their ration of basic food supplies like flour, sugar, rice, beans, etc. I won't go on....

We saw Cruz's Two Sisters and a Piano, It was presented by Miami New Drama close to my house. 

Cruz's Pulitzer Prize was awarded for his play Anna in the Tropics. I saw that play last year.

I think there are a lot of benefits of going to the theater, especially if you take the time to learn about the play beforehand. 

Theater gives us a history lesson, an opportunity to revisit the past, with a different lens, with the poignant details. It offers a different reality, a different perspective, uncomfortable truths, and different interpretations. It can make you question your assumptions of historical events. 

I often wonder what drives a playwright, what motivates them, what are they trying to say. And for sure, I'm always amazed by the passion of a playwright; their level of work, the effort they put in, the time they devote to their craft. I am humbled. 

I believe going to theater is another way of expressing creativity. Like drawing, there are transferrable skills that can helps us see the world differently.

I hope we all try to become more creative. It's good for our brains...and for our world. 

Grab the paint brush.
The pencil and sketchpad. 
Start that business.
Write that article.
The book. 
Post the blog.
Pick up the guitar.
Sing. 
Act. 
Step out of your comfort zone. 
Be brave. It will make your brain stronger. 

And as I mentioned last week: 

“The brain is more like a muscle - it changes and gets stronger when you use it."
- Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

Thank you for reading!

Be well,

Peter Pavlina