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Published on: December 16, 2010
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Creative experiences and brain clocks
Carlos Coronel-Oliveros1,2,3, Joaquin Migeot1,2,3, Fernando Lehue1
1Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago de Chile, Santiaguinos, Chile.
Nature Communications
|October 3, 2025
Summary
Engaging in creative activities like art or music may improve brain health by delaying brain aging. Higher expertise and learning in creative domains correlate with greater brain age delays, suggesting a link between creativity and cognitive vitality.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Psychology
Background:
- Creative engagement is linked to brain health, but precise metrics and mechanisms are unclear.
- Brain clocks, measuring deviations from chronological age, offer a novel approach to assess brain aging.
- Understanding the neural basis of creativity's impact on brain health is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between creative experiences and brain aging using brain clock metrics.
- To explore the domain-independent effects of expertise and learning in creative fields on brain health.
- To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying creativity's influence on brain plasticity and efficiency.
Main Methods:
- Utilized magnetoencephalography/electroencephalography (M/EEG) functional connectivity data from 1,240 participants.
- Applied machine learning (support vector machines) and whole-brain modeling.
- Integrated Neurosynth meta-analyses and reanalyzed existing datasets from diverse creative domains and a learning study.
Main Results:
- A delayed brain age was observed across all creative domains studied (dance, music, visual arts, video games).
- Scalable effects were found, with higher expertise and performance correlating with greater brain age delay (expertise > learning).
- Increased connectivity in age-vulnerable brain hubs, linked to creativity, was associated with delayed brain aging, indicating plasticity-driven efficiency.
Conclusions:
- Creative experiences are linked to delayed brain aging, suggesting a protective effect on brain health.
- The observed effects are domain-independent, highlighting a universal connection between creativity and cognitive vitality.
- Neuroplasticity and enhanced brain efficiency are key mechanisms mediating the positive impact of creativity on brain health.
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