Fascinating 2014 study that concluded that they could demonstrate the neural effects of visual art production on psychological resilience in adulthood. Its all building a case that art can have a stabilising effect on adults suffering from distress, increasing self-reflection and self-awareness, altering behavior and thinking patterns, and also by normalizing heart rate, blood pressure, or even cortisol levels.
But while the extent to which visual art may also affect the functional neuroanatomy of the healthy human brain remains an open question, the results did reveal that visual art production leads to improved interaction, particularly between the frontal and posterior and temporal brain regions, and thus may become an important prevention tool in managing the burden of chronic diseases in older adults.