Impulsive Artistic Creativity as a Presentation of Transient Cognitive Alterations

Abstract

A 27-year-old right-handed male mosaic artisan who had not shown any interest in drawing or artistic activity was admitted to the Department of Neurology for attacks of bizarre behavior and convulsive disorder. The patient reported feeling "waves" engulfing him during the attacks, leaving him floating helplessly. During some attacks, the patient impulsively initiated drawing activity. Interictal sleep-deprivation EEG showed a left frontotemporal focus of paroxysmal discharge. Brain tomography with SPECT showed low 99Tc-HMPAO uptake in the left frontoparietal region. Psychodiagnostic tests gave evidence of dysfunction of the left frontal region, with preference of the right hemisphere. It is suggested that the attacks of altered cognitive state were, in this case, provoked by spreading depression of the left hemisphere, while the integrative functions of the right hemisphere remained intact. Thus, the impulsive artistic creativity during the attacks may represent a "release phenomenon" of the complex visuospatial skills of the right (subdominant) hemisphere. This symptomatology of transient cognitive alterations is unique and, to the best of our knowledge, has not been previously reported.