This is a photo of Mary Hecht, internationally renowned sculptor, before her death in April 2013 at the age of 81. Credit: Estate of Mary Hecht
The ability to draw spontaneously as well as from memory may be preserved in the brains of artists long after the deleterious effects of vascular dementia have diminished their capacity to complete simple, everyday tasks, according to a new study by physicians at St. Michael's Hospital.
The finding, scheduled to be released today in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, looked at the last few years of the late Mary Hecht, an internationally renowned sculptor, who was able to draw spur-of-the moment and detailed sketches of faces and figures, including from memory, despite an advanced case of vascular dementia.
"Art opens the mind," said Dr. Luis Fornazzari, neurological consultant at St. Michael's Hospital's Memory Clinic and lead author of the paper. "Mary Hecht was a remarkable example of how artistic abilities are preserved in spite of the degeneration of the brain and a loss in the more mundane, day-to-day memory functions."
Hecht, who died in April 2013 at 81, had been diagnosed with vascular dementia and was wheelchair-bound due to previous strokes. Despite her vast knowledge of art and personal talent, she was unable to draw the correct time on a clock, name certain animals or remember any of the words she was asked to recall.
But she quickly sketched an accurate portrait of a research student from the Memory Clinic. And she was able to draw a free-hand sketch of a lying Buddha figurine and reproduce it from memory a few minutes later. To the great delight of St. Michael's doctors, Hecht also drew an accurate sketch of famed cellist Mstislav Rostropovich after she learned of his death earlier that day on the radio.
This is a clay sculpture by Mary Hecht. Credit: Estate of Mary Hecht
While she was drawing and showing medical staff her own creations, Hecht spoke eloquently and without hesitation about art.
"This is the most exceptional example of the degree of preservation of artistic skills we've seen in our clinic," said Dr. Corinne Fischer, director at St. Michael's Hospital's Memory Clinic and another of the paper's authors. "As well, most of the other studies that have been done in this area looked at other kinds of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease or frontal temporal dementia, while this is a case of cognitive reserve in a patient with fairly advanced vascular dementia."
Dr. Fornazzari previously wrote a paper detailing a musician who, despite declining health because of Alzheimer's disease, could still play the piano and learn new music. As well, in October 2011, Dr. Fischer and colleagues looked at bilingual patients with Alzheimer's and discovered they had twice as much cognitive reserve as their unilingual counterparts.
Educators should take a page from these results and encourage schools to teach the arts – whether sculpture, painting or music – rather than cutting back on them, said Dr. Fornazzari. "Art should be taught to everyone. It's better than many medications and is as important as mathematics or history."
Both physicians want to lead a larger study of artists with neurological illnesses to further explore the importance of art and cognitive brain capacity.
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This is a photo of Mary Hecht, internationally renowned sculptor, before her death in April 2013 at the age of 81. Credit: Estate of Mary Hecht
The ability to draw spontaneously as well as from memory may be preserved in the brains of artists long after the deleterious effects of vascular dementia have diminished their capacity to complete simple, everyday tasks, according to a new study by physicians at St. Michael's Hospital.
The finding, scheduled to be released today in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, looked at the last few years of the late Mary Hecht, an internationally renowned sculptor, who was able to draw spur-of-the moment and detailed sketches of faces and figures, including from memory, despite an advanced case of vascular dementia.
"Art opens the mind," said Dr. Luis Fornazzari, neurological consultant at St. Michael's Hospital's Memory Clinic and lead author of the paper. "Mary Hecht was a remarkable example of how artistic abilities are preserved in spite of the degeneration of the brain and a loss in the more mundane, day-to-day memory functions."
Hecht, who died in April 2013 at 81, had been diagnosed with vascular dementia and was wheelchair-bound due to previous strokes. Despite her vast knowledge of art and personal talent, she was unable to draw the correct time on a clock, name certain animals or remember any of the words she was asked to recall.
But she quickly sketched an accurate portrait of a research student from the Memory Clinic. And she was able to draw a free-hand sketch of a lying Buddha figurine and reproduce it from memory a few minutes later. To the great delight of St. Michael's doctors, Hecht also drew an accurate sketch of famed cellist Mstislav Rostropovich after she learned of his death earlier that day on the radio.
This is a clay sculpture by Mary Hecht. Credit: Estate of Mary Hecht
While she was drawing and showing medical staff her own creations, Hecht spoke eloquently and without hesitation about art.
"This is the most exceptional example of the degree of preservation of artistic skills we've seen in our clinic," said Dr. Corinne Fischer, director at St. Michael's Hospital's Memory Clinic and another of the paper's authors. "As well, most of the other studies that have been done in this area looked at other kinds of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease or frontal temporal dementia, while this is a case of cognitive reserve in a patient with fairly advanced vascular dementia."
Dr. Fornazzari previously wrote a paper detailing a musician who, despite declining health because of Alzheimer's disease, could still play the piano and learn new music. As well, in October 2011, Dr. Fischer and colleagues looked at bilingual patients with Alzheimer's and discovered they had twice as much cognitive reserve as their unilingual counterparts.
Educators should take a page from these results and encourage schools to teach the arts – whether sculpture, painting or music – rather than cutting back on them, said Dr. Fornazzari. "Art should be taught to everyone. It's better than many medications and is as important as mathematics or history."
Both physicians want to lead a larger study of artists with neurological illnesses to further explore the importance of art and cognitive brain capacity.
Explore further: Study finds late-life depression associated with increased risk for dementia
Medical Xpress on facebook
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Study finds late-life depression associated with increased risk for dementia
May 02, 2013
(Medical Xpress)—Late-life depression is associated with an increased risk for all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease and, most predominantly, vascular dementia, according to the results of a new meta-analysis published ...
Memory decline may be earliest sign of dementia
Jul 17, 2013
(AP)—Memory problems that are often dismissed as a normal part of aging may not be so harmless after all.
Mayo study seeks to pretreat Alzheimer's in effort to prevent brain damage
Jul 16, 2013
The day is coming when doctors will be able to diagnose and treat Alzheimer's disease before people have symptoms, and Ronald Petersen is among the doctors laying the groundwork for that future.
No evidence drugs, vitamins, supplements help prevent cognitive decline in healthy older adults
Apr 15, 2013
A review of published research has found no evidence that drugs, herbal products or vitamin supplements help prevent cognitive decline in healthy older adults.
Re-learning words lost to dementia
Nov 27, 2012
A simple word-training program has been found to restore key words in people with a type of dementia that attacks language and our memory for words.
Recommended for you
What goes wrong in a brain affected by Alzheimer's disease?
15 hours ago
The ability of different regions of the brain to communicate gradually breaks down with aging and in Alzheimer's disease, but there are key differences between these two processes. Some of these differences ...
Researchers agree that Alzheimer's test results could be released to research participants
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Aug 21, 2013
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Alzheimer's disease has proven to be a difficult enemy to defeat. After all, aging is the No. 1 risk factor for the disorder, and there's no stopping that.
Copper identified as culprit in Alzheimer's disease
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User comments
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