A case report of acquired synesthesia and heightened creativity in a musician after traumatic brain injury
Rima Abou-Khalil, Lealani Mae Y. Acosta · 2023 · Neurocase, 29(1), 18-21
This source is used as context evidence across 1 linked claim and 4 related evidence hubs. Its citation record is marked verified; that verifies the source trail, not the truth of any linked claim.
Summary
Case report of an established musician who described acquired synaesthesia, heightened sensory experience and creativity, development of perfect pitch, and increased composition after traumatic brain injury; the reported changes lasted about four months.
How this source is used on the map
Supports the possibility of striking post-injury musical and perceptual change while directly limiting the popular 'from zero' story: the patient was already a musician and the report was short-term.
Citation record
- Authors
- Rima Abou-Khalil, Lealani Mae Y. Acosta
- Year
- 2023
- Publication
- Neurocase, 29(1), 18-21
- Source type
- Study
- Map role
- context
- Credibility level
- primary
- Citation status
- Verified
- DOI
- 10.1080/13554794.2023.2208271
- PubMed
- Recorded
- Not recorded
Linked claims
Related evidence hubs
What consciousness is, how it relates to brains, and whether it's basic to reality.
The nature of subjective experience.
Mind–brain relation, qualia, intentionality.
Cryptomnesia, anoxia models, cold reading. Counter-anchors.
Related sources
The standard overview that established acquired savant syndrome as a research category, while explicitly noting that the field needed standardized testing, larger samples, and movement beyond anecdotal single cases.
Documents de novo artistic behavior after trauma but also shows why 'instant mastery' is misleading: onset was delayed and the observable skill evolved through sustained activity.
Provides the key clinical counterweight: emergent art is real but heterogeneous, sometimes reflects altered drive or pre-existing predisposition, and does not establish a universal hidden-skill mechanism.
A central peer-reviewed acquired-savant case because the creative behavior followed a sudden vascular brain event rather than developmental disability or progressive dementia.
The strongest small clinical series behind acquired-savant claims because it examined a defined patient group and paired behavioral change with neuropsychology and brain anatomy.