Art, Mind, and Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity

The book's spine is Gardner's argument that artistic creativity is a legitimate domain of cognitive science and can be studied through the same methods applied to language, logic, and other cognitive capacities. It rejects the romantic view that artistic creativity is a mysterious gift exempt from scientific analysis, as well as the behaviorist assumption that only observable behaviors matter [citation:1]. Gardner brings together insights from developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and philosophy to demonstrate that creativity can be investigated empirically [citation:1]. The book's structure—moving from masters of cognitive theory through child development, education, brain damage, and adult creativity—reflects this integrative ambition. Gardner's Project Zero research program, founded because 'nothing was known' about artistic development, provides the empirical foundation [citation:4].

Gardner identifies a three-stage pattern. Between ages two and six, children enjoy 'exploratory exuberance,' creating handsome 'first drafts' in all media without self-consciousness [citation:4]. From learning the rules and needing to conform in school, a more proscribed literalness follows: children become concerned with realistic representation and conventional correctness [citation:4]. In adolescence, critical acumen is achieved—young people develop the ability to judge their own work against standards, but this critical capacity often outpaces their technical skill [citation:4]. Gardner fears that many budding artists are lost in adolescent self-criticism, abandoning artistic production because they cannot meet their own standards. He suggests preventive interventions, including teaching perspective to eight- and nine-year-olds and using creative computer toys or didactic museum shows comparing originals and fakes [citation:4].

Gardner devotes an entire section to 'The Breakdown of the Mind,' drawing on his work with aphasic patients and other brain-damaged individuals [citation:4]. The logic is that studying what happens when specific brain regions are damaged reveals the architecture of normal cognition. Gardner discusses what is known and not known about the two halves of the brain, the loss of language, and artistry after brain damage [citation:3]. He also pays tribute to Alexander Luria, the Soviet neuropsychologist whose case studies of brain-injured patients provided a model for understanding how cognitive capacities can be selectively impaired [citation:3]. This section exemplifies Gardner's broader methodological commitment: understanding a capacity by examining what happens when it breaks down.

Kirkus Reviews described it as a 'heterogeneous, erratic collection' with 'some stimulating pieces, others that repeat the obvious or don't go far enough' [citation:4]. The reviewer noted that much of the work is descriptive and tentative, with limited numbers and lacking cross-cultural or socioeconomic comparisons [citation:4]. The book was seen as lacking the focus and fullness of Gardner's earlier Artful Scribbles (1980) [citation:4]. However, the reviewer found Gardner's conclusions 'sound, if hardly novel' [citation:4]. A Literature in Performance review from 1985 also assessed the book [citation:7]. The collection format—drawing on papers written over several years—was identified as a structural weakness, producing unevenness rather than a unified argument.

Art, Mind, and Brain (1982) occupies a transitional position between Artful Scribbles (1980) and Frames of Mind (1983). Artful Scribbles focused specifically on children's drawings and their significance for understanding artistic development. Art, Mind, and Brain broadens the scope to encompass creativity across the lifespan—from early childhood through Mozart's adult compositions—and integrates neuropsychological evidence from brain-damaged patients [citation:1]. Frames of Mind, published the following year, would generalize Gardner's cognitive pluralism into the theory of multiple intelligences [citation:5]. The 1982 book thus documents the empirical and theoretical groundwork for MI theory: the Project Zero research on artistic development, the case for domain-specific cognitive capacities, and the integration of developmental and neuropsychological evidence.

The most persistent misconception treats Art, Mind, and Brain as a celebration of artistic genius or a romantic account of creative inspiration. Gardner's approach is the opposite: he is a cognitive psychologist who wants to demystify creativity by subjecting it to empirical investigation. He is described as 'worshipful of past masters' but 'unsatisfied by the severe rationality the discipline has imposed on developmental studies' [citation:4]. A second misconception assumes the book presents a unified theory of creativity. It is a collection of papers, not a systematic treatise, and Kirkus noted its 'heterogeneous, erratic' quality [citation:4]. A third misreading treats the brain-damage sections as tangential to the book's argument, when they are central: Gardner uses neurological breakdown to reveal the cognitive architecture that supports artistic production.