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Rare form of dementia stimulates creativity, researcher says WASHINGTON (October 20, 1998 08:08 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) -- A rare form of dementia can cause previously unknown artistic skills to blossom suddenly in individuals, according to a California researcher. Bruce Miller of the University of California at San Francisco reports in Tuesday's edition of the journal Neurology on five people who had a burst of artistry even as dementia began destroying their ability to talk and deal with other human beings. "In each of the five cases we've documented, a period of exceptional creativity heralded the beginnings of a tragic disease and continued to flourish even as the patients began to lose their ability to use language," Miller said. The individuals suffered from a disease called frontotemporal dementia, which he said accounts for only about one in 10 cases of dementia. This form of disease tends to strike when people are in their 50s and may run in families, Miller reported. The disease affects an area of the brain that influences social behavior, causing loss of social skills, Miller said. As the patients developed their artistic outburst, they lost interest in others and tended to work on their own. Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 The Associated Press janet paterson - 51/10 - almonte/ontario/canada http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/ [log in to unmask]