Summary: A large international brain-imaging analysis found that regular creative activity is linked to a younger-looking brain and slower brain aging. People who regularly danced, made music, created visual art, or played strategy-based video games showed brain patterns associated with delayed neural aging.
The effect strengthened with years of experience, indicating that long-term creative engagement reshapes how the brain ages. Even several weeks of targeted creative training produced measurable improvements in brain-aging markers.
Key Facts:
- Younger Brain Age: Creative engagement was associated with a lower brain-age gap, a marker of delayed neural aging.
- Experience Matters: Long-term dancers, musicians, artists, and strategy gamers showed the strongest brain-health benefits.
- Plasticity Boost: Creative activity increased efficiency in brain networks critical for attention, coordination, and problem-solving.
Source: SWPS University
How to keep your brain in good shape? Regular engagement in creative activities — such as dancing, painting, playing music, or strategy-based computer games — is a practical way to support brain health. An international study including researchers from SWPS University shows these activities are associated with delayed brain aging, and the association grows stronger with greater experience.
Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study suggests that promoting creative activities in education and healthcare could be an effective public-health strategy. “These findings support integrating artistic and musical activities into programs aimed at preserving brain health and improving societal well-being,” says Aneta Brzezicka, PhD, professor at SWPS University and co-author of the study.
Creativity extends beyond traditional arts
Creativity — the ability to produce novel ideas or solutions — is commonly associated with visual art and music. The study also highlights that certain video games, particularly real-time strategy games like StarCraft II, demand adaptive problem solving, tactical innovation, and individualized playstyles, which engage similar creative processes.
Previous research has shown creative activities benefit cognitive function and well-being, but most work focused on short-term cognitive changes. This international analysis directly examined how creative experience relates to brain health across diverse domains and levels of expertise.
Brain clocks and brain-age gap
Researchers analyzed neuroimaging and survey data from more than 1,400 participants across 13 countries, including experts in dance (tango), music, visual arts, and action/strategy gaming. One component of the study measured participants’ brain activity before and after several weeks of StarCraft II training.
Using advanced computational models known as brain clocks, the team estimated each participant’s “brain age” from neuroimaging data. Comparing predicted brain age with chronological age produces the brain-age gap (BAG), which indicates accelerated or delayed brain aging. Larger positive BAGs reflect accelerated aging and are observed in some psychiatric and neurological conditions and among people with unhealthy lifestyles or adverse exposures.
Creativity supports brain health
Across domains, people more deeply engaged in creative activities tended to have younger brain-age profiles. This association held regardless of the creative domain, suggesting that activities which stimulate imagination and problem solving help preserve neural connections vulnerable to aging.
Specifically, creative engagement was linked to greater local and global efficiency in brain networks, particularly in frontoparietal hubs that support attention, coordination, and executive control. These changes imply improved information processing in regions most susceptible to age-related decline.
The study found increased plasticity in brain regions vulnerable to aging and in areas tied to creative processes. In short, creativity appears to strengthen the functional organization and biophysical coupling of key brain systems.
Greater experience, younger brain
Long-term practitioners — dancers, musicians, visual artists, and experienced strategy gamers — exhibited the most pronounced reductions in brain-age gap. This suggests sustained creative practice more effectively promotes neural plasticity and brain resilience than brief exposure.
Still, even short-term, targeted training (about 30 hours over several weeks) produced measurable shifts in brain-age indicators, showing that creative training can yield benefits in relatively little time. Effects were strongest among experienced individuals, with similar but smaller effects among those receiving short-term instruction.
Overall, the results encourage regular engagement with creative activities as a simple, everyday approach to support brain health and cognitive resilience. “Engaging in dance, painting, music, or strategy gaming appears to slow brain aging and contribute to well-being,” concludes Aneta Brzezicka.
The study, titled “Creative experiences and brain clocks,” appears in Nature Communications. Contributing authors from SWPS University include Aneta Brzezicka, PhD; Natalia Kowalczyk-Grębska, PhD; and Natalia Jakubowska, PhD.
Key Questions Answered:
A: Yes — higher creative engagement was linked to measurably younger-looking brain networks across multiple creative domains.
A: Yes — strategy-based games showed similar brain-protective effects as music, dance, and visual art when they demand creativity, problem solving, and adaptive strategies.
A: Brain-age changes were detected after several weeks of targeted creative training, with larger effects observed in long-term experts.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by editorial staff.
About this creativity and brain-aging research news
Author: Marta Danowska-Kisiel
Source: SWPS University
Contact: Marta Danowska-Kisiel – SWPS University
Image credit: Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “Creative experiences and brain clocks” by Aneta Brzezicka et al., Nature Communications. The study combined M/EEG functional connectivity (N = 1,240) with machine learning, whole-brain modeling, and meta-analytic tools. It reanalyzed datasets of expert and matched non-expert participants in dance, music, visual arts, and video games, plus a pre/post learning sample (N = 232), and reported domain-independent links between creativity and delayed brain aging.
Abstract
Creative experiences and brain clocks
Creative experiences may enhance brain health, yet metrics and mechanisms remain elusive. This work characterizes brain health using brain clocks, capturing deviations from chronological age (accelerated or delayed brain aging). Combining M/EEG functional connectivity (N = 1,240) with machine learning, whole-brain modeling, and meta-analytic tools, researchers reanalyzed datasets of experts and matched non-experts across dance, music, visual arts, and video games, plus a pre/post learning study (N = 232).
Results showed delayed brain age across domains with scalable effects (expertise > learning): higher expertise and performance were associated with greater delay in brain age. Age-vulnerable brain hubs displayed increased connectivity linked to creativity, particularly in regions associated with expertise and creative processing. Computational modeling indicated plasticity-driven increases in brain efficiency and biophysical coupling, supporting a domain-independent link between creativity and brain health.