Despite the prominent loss of motor skills, artistic capacities remain preserved in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Furthermore, artistic creativity may emerge in art-naïve PD patients treated with levodopa and dopamine agonists. The present review discusses reported PD patients who developed enhanced artistic skills under anti-Parkinsonian therapy and the course of this phenomenon in the clinical context. It is unclear whether creative drive is related to dopamine dysregulation, and the mechanisms remain speculative. The delineation of the particular constellation that enables this emergence in PD patients may shed light on the comprehension of the concept of creativity in general.
From the OP’s Science Daily link:
It’s possible that these patients are expressing latent talents they never had the courage to demonstrate before, she suggests. Dopamine-inducing therapies are also connected to a loss of impulse control, and sometimes result in behaviors like excessive gambling or obsessional hobbies. An increase in artistic drive could be linked to this lowering of inhibitions, allowing patients to embrace their creativity. Some patients have even reported a connection between their artistic sensibilities and medication dose, noting that they feel they can create more freely when the dose is higher.
Waits for the LW self-medicating crowd to buy up levodopa and Piribedil with their bitcoins
Yeah, I thought it would appeal to transhumanists.
The interesting question is how you get increased artistic ability without the gambling. It might be a variant on wireheading. What makes for a hunt for significance which isn’t sidetracked by a mere feeling of significance? I’ve heard that part of the hook for gambling is a feeling that winning and losing have meaning beyond the money.
Journal article link
Abstract:
From the OP’s Science Daily link:
Waits for the LW self-medicating crowd to buy up levodopa and Piribedil with their bitcoins
Levodopa (L-DOPA) seems to be legally and commercially available as a supplement.
Yeah, I thought it would appeal to transhumanists.
The interesting question is how you get increased artistic ability without the gambling. It might be a variant on wireheading. What makes for a hunt for significance which isn’t sidetracked by a mere feeling of significance? I’ve heard that part of the hook for gambling is a feeling that winning and losing have meaning beyond the money.