Like a Fine Wine

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

“If you’re not getting older, you’re dead.”
- Tom Petty

The Water Lilies: Green Reflections ca. 1915 - 1926 Claude Monet

It is no wonder that we seem to have instilled within us the perception that creativity declines with age. In 1874 American neurologist George M. Beard studied the productivity of dozens of scientists, artists and writers throughout history to find the years of their highest and lowest productivity. His findings?—that 80% of the greatest masterpieces painted and most important scientific breakthroughs discovered happened between the ages of 20 and 40.

Perhaps it’s time to reevaluate those figures! More recent scientific research shows that the aging brain manages information differently (and sometimes more efficiently) by “cross-indexing” better than the younger brain may be able to do. Roberto Cabeza, a neuroscientist at Duke University, calls this “HAROLD” for “hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults”. Through functional magnetic resonance ima…