Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The “creative types” we encountered in our youth always seemed to have the gift of free self expression. They censored themselves less, explored more and never really cared about what others thought of them. They did what pleased them and ignored the social expectations and norms that surrounded them. Turns out there are some physiological similarities between the brains of those “creative types” and the aging population.
As described in a Psychology Today article I read recently, many people over the age of 65 exude characteristics that are most commonly seen in creative artists. Most notably, the area of the brain involved in self-conscious awareness and censoring, the prefrontal cortex, is thinner in the aging brain. In a population of older individuals, this may account for their reduced need for acceptance and an ambition to speak their minds — common traits among artists. The article outlines some famous names and their successful later-in-life works of art:
Consider Millard Kaufman, who wrote his first novel, the hit book Bowl of Cherries, at age 90. Then there’s 93-year-old Lorna Page, who caused waves in Britain with her first novel A Dangerous Weakness. Following in the footsteps of Grandma Moses (who did not take up painting until in her 70′s), former patent attorney John Root Hopkins turned to art in his 70′s and had a showing of his work in the American Visionary Art Museum at age 73. There are numerous examples throughout history of the creative power of the aging brain: Benjamin Franklin invented the bifocal lens at the age of 78, Thomas Hardy published a book of lyric poetry at age 85, Frank Lloyd Wright completed the design of the Guggenheim Museum in New York at and 92, and Giuseppe Verdi wrote Falstaff, perhaps his most acclaimed opera, at the age of 85.
The article considers other similarities between the brains of the creative and the aging, but more importantly it asks the question: Could the September of your life be the best time to pursue the creative dreams of your youth? And the converse of that: If in our youth we had let go of stresses, self-censorship and self-consciousness, could we have been the creative souls we wanted to be? What are you thoughts?
