Unravelling Boléro: progressive aphasia, transmodal creativity and the right posterior neocortex (original) (raw)

Journal Article

,

1Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF, 2Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, and 3Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Canada

Search for other works by this author on:

,

1Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF, 2Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, and 3Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Canada

Search for other works by this author on:

,

1Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF, 2Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, and 3Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Canada

Search for other works by this author on:

,

Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini

1Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF, 2Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, and 3Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Canada

Search for other works by this author on:

,

1Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF, 2Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, and 3Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Canada

Search for other works by this author on:

,

1Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF, 2Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, and 3Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Canada

Search for other works by this author on:

1Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, UCSF, 2Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, and 3Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Canada

Search for other works by this author on:

Revision received:

08 October 2007

Accepted:

08 October 2007

Published:

05 December 2007

• • Article contents
  • Figures & tables
  • Video
  • Audio
  • Supplementary Data
• Cite

Cite

William W. Seeley, Brandy R. Matthews, Richard K. Crawford, Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, Dean Foti, Ian R. Mackenzie, Bruce L. Miller, Unravelling Boléro: progressive aphasia, transmodal creativity and the right posterior neocortex, Brain, Volume 131, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 39–49, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awm270
Close

Navbar Search Filter Mobile Enter search term Search

Abstract

Most neurological lesion studies emphasize performance deficits that result from focal brain injury. Here, we describe striking gains of function in a patient with primary progressive aphasia, a degenerative disease of the human language network. During the decade before her language deficits arose, Anne Adams (AA), a lifelong scientist, developed an intense drive to produce visual art. Paintings from AA's artistic peak revealed her capacity to create expressive transmodal art, such as renderings of music in paint, which may have reflected an increased subjective relatedness among internal perceptual and conceptual images. AA became fascinated with Maurice Ravel, the French composer who also suffered from a progressive aphasia, and painted his best-known work, ‘Boléro’, by translating its musical elements into visual form. Later paintings, achieved when AA was nearly mute, moved towards increasing photographic realism, perhaps because visual representations came to dominate AA's mental landscape during this phase of her illness. Neuroimaging analyses revealed that, despite severe degeneration of left inferior frontal-insular, temporal and striatal regions, AA showed increased grey matter volume and hyperperfusion in right posterior neocortical areas implicated in heteromodal and polysensory integration. The findings suggest that structural and functional enhancements in non-dominant posterior neocortex may give rise to specific forms of visual creativity that can be liberated by dominant inferior frontal cortex injury.

© The Author (2007). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Topic:

• neuroimaging
• aphasia, primary progressive
• creativity
• languages
• language disorders
• music
• neocortex
• paintings
• translating
• brain
• frontal lobe
• gray matter
• aphasia, progressive
• tissue degeneration
• degenerative disorders
• brain injuries

You do not currently have access to this article.

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code
• Add your ORCID iD

Get help with access

Institutional access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Sign in through your institution

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

1. Click Sign in through your institution.
2. Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
3. When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
4. Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Sign in with a library card

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

1. Click Sign in through society site.
2. When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
3. Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

Personal account

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

Institutional account management

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Purchase

Short-term Access

To purchase short-term access, please sign in to your personal account above.

Don't already have a personal account? Register

Unravelling Boléro: progressive aphasia, transmodal creativity and the right posterior neocortex - 24 Hours access

EUR €51.00

GBP £44.00

USD $55.00

Rental

This article is also available for rental through DeepDyve.

Citations

Views

Altmetric

Metrics

Total Views 62,052

58,962 Pageviews

3,090 PDF Downloads

Since 12/1/2016

Citations

121 Web of Science

×

Email alerts

Citing articles via

• Latest

• Most Read

• Most Cited

More from Oxford Academic