The brain of people with artistic talent is different. You can actually see it on brain scans. Artists have increased neural matter in areas that relate to minute and accurate motor movements and visual imagery.

If the study published on Neuroimage by Rebecca Chamberlain of KU Leuven Belgium is right, some people are innately capable of art, some not, no matter what their education or personal experience is.

The scans of 21 art students compared with those of 23 non-artists show a striking pattern. Artists had significantly more grey matter in an area of the brain called the precuneus in the parietal lobe.

"This region is involved in a range of functions but potentially in things that could be linked to creativity, like visual imagery - being able to manipulate visual images in your brain, combine them and deconstruct them,"

says Dr Chamberlain. "It falls into line with evidence that focus of expertise really does change the brain. The brain is incredibly flexible in response to training and there are huge individual differences that we are only beginning to tap into."