Unlocking the brain’s potential Researchers may have identified a part of
the brain, which if switched off, can stimulate
“artistic genius”. The left anterior temporal lobe is damaged in demented patients who develop artistic talent and in savants with artistic abilities. When transcranial magnetic stimulation was used in normal volunteers to ‘turn off’ that brain region, a number of them temporarily developed ‘savant skills.’ Researchers speculate that a normally functioning left anterior temporal region suppresses access to more ‘primitive’ areas that do more unmediated processing of sensory data and numbers. BBC