Dutch man
has sudden urge to listen to country singer following pattern of localised
electrical pulses to his brain
theguardian.com,
Nicky Woolf, Tuesday 27 May 2014
Johnny Cash. When the electrode batteries died down, the test subject's musical tastes returned to normal. Photograph: Marvin Koner/Corbis |
Brain
implants have had the unexpected and intriguing side effect of causing a
60-year-old Dutch man to develop a sudden and powerful love for the music of
Johnny Cash, a new paper reveals.
A case
study in the journal Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience describes how
"Mr B", a married man with a very severe form of obsessive compulsive
disorder, developed the urge to listen to the country singer while receiving a
form of treatment called deep brain stimulation.
Deep brain
stimulation is a procedure by which electrodes are implanted into specific
parts of the brain. When these electrodes are connected to an outside battery
pack, they send a pattern of localised pulses which act like a pacemaker to
regulate activity in that region.
Doctors at
the University of Amsterdam implanted the device into Mr B's nucleus accumbens,
a part of the brain which processes rewards and pleasurable behaviour – and
which, when not functioning correctly, can be the cause of addictive or
compulsive disorders.
Within six
weeks, it was clear the surgery had been effective. Mr B reported a sharp
decline in anxiety and compulsive behaviours. The authors of the case study
report note that he began to call himself "'Mr B II,' the new and improved
version of himself."
Over the
course of the next six months, an unexpected side effect started to emerge. It
first happened, according to the report, when Mr B happened to hear the Johnny
Cash song Ring of Fire on the radio. "From this moment on," the
report says, "Mr B kept listening simply and solely to Johnny Cash and
bought all his CDs and DVDs.”
When
listening to his favourite songs, the report adds, Mr B felt like he was the
hero in a movie, and although he played Johnny Cash songs almost exclusively
for the following years, the music never annoyed him.
His
favourite songs are Fulsom Prison Blues, Ring of Fire and Sunday Morning Coming
Down.
However,
when the batteries on the electrode implants run down, Mr B's musical taste
returns to what it had been before the surgery: a few Dutch singers, and the
Rolling Stones.
Deep brain
stimulation has been routinely used to treat Parkinson's since the mid-90s, and
was first used for patients with severe OCD by doctors in Belgium in 1998. It
is estimated that 100,000 patients worldwide now wear the device.
Dr Ali
Rezai, a neurosurgeon who routinely performs deep brain stimulation implants,
and also heads up the neuroscience program at Ohio State University, believes
that Mr B may always have had the potential to be a Johnny Cash fan, but that
it was a predilection that could only emerge when his disorder was being
suppressed.
“Whereas
before, his severe anxiety meant he was not able to connect with music,” he
told the Guardian, “afterwards it could become rewarding for him. His
brain wasn't functioning normally before.”
“I don't
know why he had a particular predilection for Johnny Cash,” he added. “Maybe
it has a certain rhythm.”
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