http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/...-dementia.html

Music and art less vulnerable to cognitive decline
CBC News

... Neurologists at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto found that artists suffering from vascular dementia may still be able to draw spontaneously and from memory, despite being unable to complete simple, everyday tasks.

"We discovered that there is a disproportion between the degree that artists lose some of their memory function, their orientation and other day-to-day cognitive functions. But at the same time, some of their art form is preserved," Dr. Luis Fornazzari, a neurological consultant at St. Michael’s Hospital memory clinic and lead author of the paper, told CBC News.

Artists compared with non-artists are better protected, he added. "Due to their art, the brain is better protected [against] diseases like Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, and even strokes. They have more reserve in their brain in order to give functions.

"So [we know], based on other neuroscience studies, that art in any of its forms uses different neuronal avenues inside the brain to do their work. And the activity, the talent and the art per se gives reserve when the brain requires that reserve."

The study, released Thursday in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, looks at the last few years of the late Mary Hecht, an internationally renowned sculptor, who was able to draw spontaneously as well as complete detailed sketches of faces and figures, from memory, despite suffering from severe vascular dementia.

'Art should be taught to everyone. It's better than many medications and is as important as mathematics or history.'—Dr. Luis Fornazzari, St. Michael’s Hospital memory clinic.....