A Glimpse of Tommy McHugh's Brain

Tommy has excited neuroscientists because of the hypothesis that the way his brain changed after his aneurysm ruptured might be a clue to where creative drive comes from in the brain. Medical research is better at understanding deficits than strengths, though. When there is a specific change in function following a localized brain injury, scientists deduce that the damaged area may have an important role in controlling that function. But those deductions must be made carefully.

The classic cautionary tale that scientists tell to illustrate this is the parable of the frog. Imagine you have a frog who, when you yell jump, jumps. This behavior stops after the scientists remove a particular brain area. They conclude that it is a region necessary for hearing – but it could as well be the leg control area. With art-making, an even more complicated skill than jumping, we have to be that much more careful when we connect brain lesions and behavior.

The brain lesions that most help scientists determine what does what, and where, in the brain, are typically very focal ones such as bullet wounds, or small strokes. Tommy’s brain injury was different: milder and more diffuse. When his aneurysm ruptured, blood bathed his brain and diffusely pressed on its surface. He wasn’t left with any of the standard problems after a brain hemorrhage, such as paralyzed limbs.

In most cases of new creative drive after a brain injury, recent evidence points to a change in the activity of the temporal lobes, usually with relatively normal frontal lobe function. Tommy had mild changes consistent with this. The temporal lobe’s role in creative drive is a somewhat different picture from the standard popular view of creativity being a function of the right side of the brain.

During her research fellowship, she wrote The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block, and the Creative Brain an award-winning nonfiction book about the way the brain drives creativity. The Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle named it one of the best books of 2004.

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