The Ring of Neurofire

From the world of medicine, and specifically the academic journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, comes news that a successful neurological treatment for severe obsessive-compulsive disorder can trigger a curious side effect of the Nashville kind. From the published paper’s abstract:

Recently, neuroscientists have discovered that music influences the reward circuit of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), even when no explicit reward is present. In this clinical case study, we describe a 60-year old patient who developed a sudden and distinct musical preference for Johnny Cash following deep brain stimulation (DBS) targeted at the NAcc.

The patient, identified as “Mr. B,” is said by the team of Dutch neuroscientists who published the paper to have had broad musical tastes before the treatment, “covering Dutch-language songs, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.” After making no progress with conventional treatment, he was treated with deep brain stimulation, which is known for its use with Parkinson’s patients. Months after the DBS procedure Mr. B. happened to hear “Ring of Fire” on the radio and that’s when the man in black made neuroscience history:

Mr. B. reported that he felt good following treatment with DBS and that the songs of Johnny Cash made him feel even better. From this moment on, Mr. B. kept listening simply and solely to Johnny Cash and bought all his CD’s and DVD’s. When listening to his favorite songs he walks back and forth through the room and feels like he finds himself in a movie in which he plays the hero’s part. He reports that there is a Johnny Cash song for every emotion and every situation, feeling happy or feeling sad and although Mr. B. played almost simply and solely Johnny Cash songs for the following years, the music never starts to annoy him.

Okay, maybe a little lingering OCD there. Side benefit for the docs who wrote the case up: best academic journal article title ever — A case of musical preference for Johnny Cash following deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens.

A version of this post appears on the Nashville Scene‘s Pith in the Wind blog.