Musicophilia

In the July 23, 2007 New Yorker, Oliver Sacks presents the tale of an orthopedic surgeon who demonstrated musicophilia and musicality after being struck by lightning. "A Bolt from the Blue" uses the case of the surgeon to dive into a discussion of the neural basis for out of body experiences and the sudden onset of artistic endeavors.

The article gives evidence for two hypotheses regarding how the unexpected emergence of musical ability may occur. The first involves strengthening of connections between perceptual systems in the temporal lobe and the limbic system. This is achieved by repetitive epileptic activity arising from a temporal focus. The emergence of hypermusia, a gain of function, intuitively seems to fit a hypothesis in which some neural connections, responsible for a certain function, are differentially strengthened. Conversely, and thus counterintuitively, loss of brain tissue, in this article by resection and stroke, has been associated with gain of musical ability. It is the disinhibition of abilities always present but not consciously engaged that is believed to cause this.

When a student taking a jazz class notes that he cannot appreciate rhythm after a temporal lobectomy, the loss of brain tissue mirrors a loss in ability. It is the gain of function after neurologic damage that runs counter to reason, and is therefore far more interesting.

In the past I discussed the case of a woman who became pain-free after a seizure.