ABSTRACT
A natural observational setting for neuropsychology and neuroscience is aff orded in the artist’s studio. Artists often produce art on their own volition, their productions refl ecting the mind in the brain outside the carefully controlled conditions of a scientifi c laboratory. The artist’s studio is a natural laboratory for learning about visual perception and the mind in the brain. Some artists (e.g., Picasso) are remarkably innovative (Cohen, 1991 ). No specifi c neuropsychological tests have been designed to assess art innovation following brain damage in artists. This is largely due to the fact that only a few of the equivalents of “words” and “grammar” in art are known. The alphabetical primitives in visual art consist of forms, shapes, patterns represented with various angles, perspective lines, convergence, vanishing points, overlap, gray-scale gradations, canonical views, disembedding, texture, medium, colors, shadows, and edges. These examples do not all have ready interpretations within existing neuropsychological tools or models. In addition, the signifi cance of the whole composition lies in the culture in which the art is produced and is experienced. A method for separating this from alphabetical art primitives remains to be worked out.
