Scientists in Liverpool have analysed thousands of paintings from artists who have gone on to develop dementia and Parkinson's. Using a technique called fractal analysis they have detected changes in the painting style up to 20 years before diagnosis [1]. In contrast, painters such as Picasso who, as far as is known, didn't suffer from neurological problems had a constant fractal measure throughout their life.

I suspect that similar results would be found using samples over the years from people's:

- hand writing;

- photographs;

- audio, etc..

Analysis of historical records may be a way of finding out the exact date of onset of the disease. This, in turn, might be linked to potential etiological processes.

Reference:

[1] Art may reveal early signs of dementia - BBC News

John

How fascinating - a great and potentially significant idea.

My MDS and her husband (also a neurologist) have been studying the relationship between PD with handwriting and facial pictures for the five years I've been seeing her. I've been in the study the full time as it's longitudinal in design. The more interesting information seems to be coming from spiral drawing rather than handwriting. Its a simple task of drawing a series of spirals, on a tablet attached to a computer. Other tests include single handed peg boards (placing tiny pegs into a board) and a tap test.