Savant but not Idiot: Perché l'arteterapia ci restituisce un talento

The artistic talent of some autistics, some patients with fronto-temporal dementia, and some of the students to whom low-frequency magnetic pulses into the left fronto-temporal lobe were directed confirm both the specialization of the right parietal lobe in artistic talent and the inhibitory control exerted by the left hemisphere on the ability of spatial representation. In this paper, we advance the hypothesis that the art therapy cures to the extent that it reduces the control over the content of the information carried by the left hemisphere. It causes the activation of the right hemisphere areas acting on bodily sensations rather than on verbal forms, communicating through emotions rather than with words, stimulating feelings and emotional expressions rather than thinking. Art therapy would force a permanent or prolonged change because, unlike the momentary stimulation exerted by an electromagnetic stimulation, it would act with the effectiveness of a structured learning that, as found in a study of art experts, would modify the automatisms of aesthetic judgment through a therapeutic intervention.