Last week we saw the movie Lucy. Without any spoilers, the story looks at the ability of humans to use their brains to the fullest capacity and what that would be like. Even though the movie has received mixed reviews, I'm pretty easily entertained. Not to mention it was nice to see something that wasn't a remake or sequel. If nothing else, Lucy does give some food for thought about the way our brains work.
All of this made me think back to an article I saw in April from Artnet News (New Study Suggests Artists' Brains Are More Fully Developed). This stemmed from a report from the BBC. In a nutshell it seems that visual artists have a more developed section of their brain, making them wired for fine motor skill and visual acuity. The increased grey and white matter present suggests that "these individuals have enhanced processing" in certain areas. The question of whether they were pre-wired for these skills or developed these areas of the brain through training and practice remains to be answered. Most likely, it's a combination of the two. Also interesting is that the increase in brain development was not just found on right side of the brain, but the left as well. This challenges the idea that artists are strictly right-brained.
We are just scratching the surface in terms of understanding how the brain works...I can't wait to see where the research takes us in the future.
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