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Changes in artistic style and behaviour in Parkinson’s disease: dopamine and creativity

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Abstract

We present a PD patient in whom dopamine agonists awoke a hidden creativity that led to a gradual increase in painting productivity evolving to a disruptive impulsive behaviour that shared many features with punding. A dramatic change in painting style related to a more emotional experience during the process of creation developed after treatment onset. This case suggests that changes in creativity in PD seem to be related to dopaminergic imbalance in the limbic system.

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Acknowledgment

This work was partially supported by La Fundació La Marató de TV3, Expedient Number 060310.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Sant Pau Hospital, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Sant Antoni Maria Claret 167, 08025, Barcelona, Spain

    Jaime Kulisevsky & Javier Pagonabarraga

  2. Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Barcelona, Spain

    Jaime Kulisevsky & Mercè Martinez-Corral

Authors
  1. Jaime Kulisevsky
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  2. Javier Pagonabarraga
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  3. Mercè Martinez-Corral
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Correspondence to Jaime Kulisevsky.

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Kulisevsky, J., Pagonabarraga, J. & Martinez-Corral, M. Changes in artistic style and behaviour in Parkinson’s disease: dopamine and creativity. J Neurol 256, 816–819 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5001-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5001-1

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