Brain imaging reveals what makes professional visual artists unique

Professional visual artists have distinctive patterns of brain structure and activity that appear to support the vivid mental imagery needed for creating art, according to a study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.

Most people can draw, paint, or sketch to some extent, but only a small number develop the expertise needed to become professional artists. Scientists have long been interested in creativity, yet relatively little is known about how years of artistic training affect the brain. Previous studies have identified brain networks involved in generating and refining ideas, but most research has focused on creativity in the general population rather than professional artists.

To address this gap, researchers wanted to investigate whether professional visual artists possess unique brain characteristics that distinguish them from people without artistic training. Rather than examining a single brain measure, they combined several types of brain imaging to build a more complete picture of the artist’s brain.

Led by Erdem Taskiran from the University of Trento in Italy, the research team studied 24 adults, including 12 professional visual artists and 12 matched non-artists. The sample consisted of 14 men and 10 women, with artists averaging about 31 years of age and controls averaging about 30 years.

Participants completed three different magnetic resonance imaging brain scans that measured brain structure, communication pathways, and resting brain activity. They also completed a questionnaire measuring how vividly they could imagine visual scenes in their minds. The researchers then used a machine learning method to identify patterns shared across the different brain scans.

Free daily newsletter

The analysis revealed one combined brain pattern that clearly distinguished artists from non-artists. Compared with the control group, artists had greater amounts of gray matter volume in several brain regions involved in planning, visual processing, and memory. They also showed stronger white matter connections to areas responsible for visual processing, executive control, and fine motor skills, as well as greater synchronization in the cerebellum and basal ganglia. These are brain regions that help coordinate movement, learning, and habit formation.

Importantly, participants who showed this brain pattern also reported more vivid mental imagery, suggesting these brain differences may support the ability to mentally visualize artistic ideas before putting them onto paper or canvas.

As the authors summarized, “Our findings advance understanding of artistic creativity by showing that professional expertise extends beyond traditional creativity networks to encompass cerebellar, sensorimotor, and subcortical systems.”

The researchers caution that the study has several important limitations. For instance, the small sample size requires that the findings be replicated in larger groups. The study also compared artists and non-artists at a single point in time, and thus cannot determine whether years of artistic training resulted in these brain differences or whether people with naturally different brains are more likely to become artists.

The study, “The Artists’ Brain: A Data Fusion Approach to Characterize the Neural Bases of Professional Visual Artists,” was authored by Erdem Taskiran, Francesca Bacci, David Melcher, Alessandro Grecucci, and Nicola De Pisapia.