Rare case: brain injury stimulates creativity, synesthesia | Journalist VUMC

by Paul Governor

In Neurocase, Rima Abu Khalildoctorate and Lealani Mae AcostaMD, MPH, report the case of a 66-year-old musician who acquired synesthesia and increased creativity after suffering head trauma in a motorcycle accident.

After being thrown, helmeted, about 30ft and landed in hospital for three days, the man reported on follow-up visits that when he listened to music he could see it imprinted on paper in his mind, and he acquired a daily compulsion to compose music late into the night. Evaluation using the Synesthesia Battery Online revealed vision-sound synesthesia, an exceptionally high score for vividness of visual imagery, and perfect tonality.

Mild deficits in attention, memory, word finding and impulsivity had resolved within three months of the accident.

The late nights of compulsive creativity subsided within four months of the accident. Having later discovered the music he had written around this time, the man said he found it “interesting and bizarre”, and he was unable to remember the composition.

A literature search found only one previous report of synesthesia combined with increased creativity as a result of brain injury, in this case, stroke.