The Left Atrium

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Left Atrium The Left Atrium Book review Tuning into the mind Who Mistook his Wife Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain Oliver Sacks MD for a Hat, Dr. S sings that Alfred A. Knopf; 2007 neurology has many 381 pp $34.95 ISBN 978-0-676-97978-7 words for every neural or mental function of which patients are derived — eurologist Oliver Sacks’ great words for everything they gift, as seen in a number of are not, but not for what N engaging volumes such as they really are. The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Sacks’ driving curios- Hat and Awakenings, is to draw on ity to understand the the startling and extraordinary stories story of illness within the of individuals suffering from aberra- entire context of a per- tions in neurologic function, and to son’s life — in other use these narratives to work back- words, the medical and wards toward understanding their the human dimensions pathology. Beginning with the prem- — is what makes his ise (argued with much support) that work of particular inter- music, like language, is a central ele- est to physicians. The ment of what makes us human, his bonus is that his stories object in Musicophilia: Tales of Music also contain positive and the Brain is to comprehend the medical lessons about neurological basis of music. human musicality. (For An amateur musician himself, instance, music therapy Sacks unites personal and family sto- has proved successful in ries with those of patients and other helping patients with correspondents from over the years to everything from parkin- investigate how both the pathological Courtesy of Alfred A. Knopf sonian immobility to and normal may lie on a continuum. Alzheimer dementia.) The range of what he studies goes even compose music. In each chapter, This book allows us to stand in from severe musical hallucinations, at Sacks tells us the story of a person, wonder, alongside Sacks, at the hu- one end, to the phenomenon of perfect moves to the neurological discussion, man brain — this time in conjunction pitch; from musicogenic epilepsy to and then on to the newest concepts of with music, something many physi- catchy tunes we can’t get out of our neuroscience and imaging techniques cians hold dear. heads. that have actually allowed us to watch His selection of stories (and there the brain function. Linda Hutcheon PhD are many) is aimed at showing that Sacks cites one of his many corre- Professor of English and Comparative things that we think should be linked spondents, psychoanalyst Leo Rangell, Literature have, in fact, different neural represen- who wrote in a newspaper article that University of Toronto tation. Some individuals can under- he considered himself a kind of living Michael Hutcheon MD stand rhythm but not melody, and vice laboratory, an experiment in nature Deputy Physician-in-chief versa; some who cannot speak can re- through an auditory prism. Each of for Education spond to music. Some, who, because the book’s many protagonists is this University Health Network of accident or disease, have no mem- kind of living laboratory for Sacks as University of Toronto DOI:10.1503/cmaj.080035 ory can nevertheless play or sing or well. In the opera version of The Man Toronto, Ont. CMAJ • February 12, 2008 • 178(4) 441 © 2008 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors.
Recommended publications
  • Recent Publications in Music 2010
    Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 57/4 (2010) RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN MUSIC R1 RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN MUSIC 2010 Compiled and edited by Geraldine E. Ostrove On behalf of the Pour le compte de Im Auftrag der International l'Association Internationale Internationalen Vereinigung Association of Music des Bibliothèques, Archives der Musikbibliotheken, Libraries Archives and et Centres de Musikarchive und Documentation Centres Documentation Musicaux Musikdokumentationszentren This list contains citations to literature about music in print and other media, emphasizing reference materials and works of research interest that appeared in 2009. It includes titles of new journals, but no journal articles or excerpts from compilations. Reporters who contribute regularly provide citations mainly or only from the year preceding the year this list is published in Fontes Artis Musicae. However, reporters may also submit retrospective lists cumulating publications from up to the previous five years. In the hope that geographic coverage of this list can be expanded, the compiler welcomes inquiries from bibliographers in countries not presently represented. CONTRIBUTORS Austria: Thomas Leibnitz New Zealand: Marilyn Portman Belgium: Johan Eeckeloo Nigeria: Santie De Jongh China, Hong Kong, Taiwan: Katie Lai Russia: Lyudmila Dedyukina Estonia: Katre Rissalu Senegal: Santie De Jongh Finland: Tuomas Tyyri South Africa: Santie De Jongh Germany: Susanne Hein Spain: José Ignacio Cano, Maria José Greece: Alexandros Charkiolakis González Ribot Hungary: Szepesi Zsuzsanna Tanzania: Santie De Jongh Iceland: Bryndis Vilbergsdóttir Turkey: Paul Alister Whitehead, Senem Ireland: Roy Stanley Acar Italy: Federica Biancheri United Kingdom: Rupert Ridgewell Japan: Sekine Toshiko United States: Karen Little, Liza Vick. The Netherlands: Joost van Gemert With thanks for assistance with translations and transcriptions to Kersti Blumenthal, Irina Kirchik, Everett Larsen and Thompson A.
    [Show full text]
  • Following Is a List of All 2019 Festival Jurors and Their Respective Categories
    Following is a list of all 2019 Festival jurors and their respective categories: Feature Film Competition Categories The jurors for the 2019 U.S. Narrative Feature Competition section are: Jonathan Ames – Jonathan Ames is the author of nine books and the creator of two television shows, Bored to Death and Blunt Talk His novella, You Were Never Really Here, was recently adapted as a film, directed by Lynne Ramsay and starring Joaquin Phoenix. Cory Hardrict– Cory Hardrict has an impressive film career spanning over 10 years. He currently stars on the series The Oath for Crackle and will next be seen in the film The Outpostwith Scott Eastwood. He will star and produce the film. Dana Harris – Dana Harris is the editor-in-chief of IndieWire. Jenny Lumet – Jenny Lumet is the author of Rachel Getting Married for which she received the 2008 New York Film Critics Circle Award, 2008 Toronto Film Critics Association Award, and 2008 Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Award and NAACP Image Award. The jurors for the 2019 International Narrative Feature Competition section are: Angela Bassett – Actress (What’s Love Got to Do With It, Black Panther), director (Whitney,American Horror Story), executive producer (9-1-1 and Otherhood). Famke Janssen – Famke Janssen is an award-winning Dutch actress, director, screenwriter, and former fashion model, internationally known for her successful career in both feature films and on television. Baltasar Kormákur – Baltasar Kormákur is an Icelandic director and producer. His 2012 filmThe Deep was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards.
    [Show full text]
  • Earworms ("Stuck Song Syndrome"): Towards a Natural History of Intrusive Thoughts
    Earworms ("stuck song syndrome"): towards a natural history of intrusive thoughts Article Accepted Version Beaman, C. P. and Williams, T. I. (2010) Earworms ("stuck song syndrome"): towards a natural history of intrusive thoughts. British Journal of Psychology, 101 (4). pp. 637-653. ISSN 0007-1269 doi: https://doi.org/10.1348/000712609X479636 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/5755/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . To link to this article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/000712609X479636 Publisher: British Psychological Society All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online Research Impact Manager Research & Enterprise Dr Anthony Atkin +44 (0)118 787411 Whiteknights House a.atkin@reading.ac.uk Whiteknights Reading RG6 6AH phone +44 (0)118 8628 fax +44 (0)118 378 8979 email impact@reading.ac.uk 24 June 2014 - Earworms ("stuck song syndrome"): towards a natural history of intrusive thoughts. British Journal of Psychology, Beaman, C. P. and Williams, T. I. (2010) 101 (4). pp. 637-653. Dear Downloader, Thank you for downloading this publication from our repository. The University of Reading is committed to increasing the visibility of our research and to demonstrating the value that it has on individuals, communities, organisations and institutions.
    [Show full text]
  • MATTERS and Sound
    Letters to the Editor 833 1 Kennedy WR, Alter M, Sung JH. Progressive seemed in the first days to originate exter- The inhibition was revealed in our studies proximal spinal and bulbar muscular atro- phy of late onset: a sex-linked recessive trait. nally and was heard bilaterally. The melody during a period of voluntary contraction by J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry: first published as 10.1136/jnnp.56.7.833 on 1 July 1993. Downloaded from Neurology 1968;18:671-80. she heard was extremely loud, leading her stimulating the motor cortex at a strength 2 Harding AE, Thomas PK, Baraister M, to ask surrounding people to turn off the lower than that required to produce excita- Bradbury PG, Morgan-Hughes JA, radio, which she believed to be the source tion under the same conditions. A recent Ponsford JR. X-linked recessive bulbospinal neuronopathy: a report of ten cases. J Neurol of the tune. The music began suddenly, was study has reported that the discharge of Neurosurg Psychiatty 1982;45: 1012-19. slow, clear and reminiscent of popular motor neurons in the first dorsal interosseus 3 Mukai E, Mitsuma T, Takahashi A, Sobue I. songs that she had heard in her youth, but muscle of the hand of a patient with multi- Endocrinological study of hypogonadism and feminization in patients with bulbar were still unknown to her. She was able to ple sclerosis could be suppressed by tran- spinal muscular atrophy. Clin Neurol sing this melody. Shortly after the onset of scranial magnetic stimulation of the motor (Tokyo) 1984;24:925-9.
    [Show full text]
  • Teaching Social Studies Through Film
    Teaching Social Studies Through Film Written, Produced, and Directed by John Burkowski Jr. Xose Manuel Alvarino Social Studies Teacher Social Studies Teacher Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County Academy for Advanced Academics at Hialeah Gardens Middle School Florida International University 11690 NW 92 Ave 11200 SW 8 St. Hialeah Gardens, FL 33018 VH130 Telephone: 305-817-0017 Miami, FL 33199 E-mail: alvarino@dadeschools.net Telephone: 305-348-7043 E-mail: jburkj@dadeschools.net For information concerning IMPACT II opportunities, Adapter and Disseminator grants, please contact: The Education Fund 305-892-5099, Ext. 18 E-mail: Lvalle@educationfund.org Web site: www.educationfund.org - 1 - INTRODUCTION Students are entertained and acquire knowledge through images; Internet, television, and films are examples. Though the printed word is essential in learning, educators have been taking notice of the new visual and oratory stimuli and incorporated them into classroom teaching. The purpose of this idea packet is to further introduce teacher colleagues to this methodology and share a compilation of films which may be easily implemented in secondary social studies instruction. Though this project focuses in grades 6-12 social studies we believe that media should be infused into all K-12 subject areas, from language arts, math, and foreign languages, to science, the arts, physical education, and more. In this day and age, students have become accustomed to acquiring knowledge through mediums such as television and movies. Though books and text are essential in learning, teachers should take notice of the new visual stimuli. Films are familiar in the everyday lives of students.
    [Show full text]
  • Musical Elements in the Discrete-Time Representation of Sound
    0 Musical elements in the discrete-time representation of sound RENATO FABBRI, University of Sao˜ Paulo VILSON VIEIRA DA SILVA JUNIOR, Cod.ai ANTONIOˆ CARLOS SILVANO PESSOTTI, Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba DEBORA´ CRISTINA CORREA,ˆ University of Western Australia OSVALDO N. OLIVEIRA JR., University of Sao˜ Paulo e representation of basic elements of music in terms of discrete audio signals is oen used in soware for musical creation and design. Nevertheless, there is no unied approach that relates these elements to the discrete samples of digitized sound. In this article, each musical element is related by equations and algorithms to the discrete-time samples of sounds, and each of these relations are implemented in scripts within a soware toolbox, referred to as MASS (Music and Audio in Sample Sequences). e fundamental element, the musical note with duration, volume, pitch and timbre, is related quantitatively to characteristics of the digital signal. Internal variations of a note, such as tremolos, vibratos and spectral uctuations, are also considered, which enables the synthesis of notes inspired by real instruments and new sonorities. With this representation of notes, resources are provided for the generation of higher scale musical structures, such as rhythmic meter, pitch intervals and cycles. is framework enables precise and trustful scientic experiments, data sonication and is useful for education and art. e ecacy of MASS is conrmed by the synthesis of small musical pieces using basic notes, elaborated notes and notes in music, which reects the organization of the toolbox and thus of this article. It is possible to synthesize whole albums through collage of the scripts and seings specied by the user.
    [Show full text]
  • Feature Films
    Libraries FEATURE FILMS The Media and Reserve Library, located in the lower level of the west wing, has over 9,000 videotapes, DVDs and audiobooks covering a multitude of subjects. For more information on these titles, consult the Libraries' online catalog. 0.5mm DVD-8746 2012 DVD-4759 10 Things I Hate About You DVD-0812 21 Grams DVD-8358 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse DVD-0048 21 Up South Africa DVD-3691 10th Victim DVD-5591 24 Hour Party People DVD-8359 12 DVD-1200 24 Season 1 (Discs 1-3) DVD-2780 Discs 12 and Holding DVD-5110 25th Hour DVD-2291 12 Angry Men DVD-0850 25th Hour c.2 DVD-2291 c.2 12 Monkeys DVD-8358 25th Hour c.3 DVD-2291 c.3 DVD-3375 27 Dresses DVD-8204 12 Years a Slave DVD-7691 28 Days Later DVD-4333 13 Going on 30 DVD-8704 28 Days Later c.2 DVD-4333 c.2 1776 DVD-0397 28 Days Later c.3 DVD-4333 c.3 1900 DVD-4443 28 Weeks Later c.2 DVD-4805 c.2 1984 (Hurt) DVD-6795 3 Days of the Condor DVD-8360 DVD-4640 3 Women DVD-4850 1984 (O'Brien) DVD-6971 3 Worlds of Gulliver DVD-4239 2 Autumns, 3 Summers DVD-7930 3:10 to Yuma DVD-4340 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her DVD-6091 30 Days of Night DVD-4812 20 Million Miles to Earth DVD-3608 300 DVD-9078 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea DVD-8356 DVD-6064 2001: A Space Odyssey DVD-8357 300: Rise of the Empire DVD-9092 DVD-0260 35 Shots of Rum DVD-4729 2010: The Year We Make Contact DVD-3418 36th Chamber of Shaolin DVD-9181 1/25/2018 39 Steps DVD-0337 About Last Night DVD-0928 39 Steps c.2 DVD-0337 c.2 Abraham (Bible Collection) DVD-0602 4 Films by Virgil Wildrich DVD-8361 Absence of Malice DVD-8243
    [Show full text]
  • Awakenings Les Friedman, Phd, and Therese Jones, Phd, Movie Review Editors
    Medicine on the big and small screen: Awakenings Les Friedman, PhD, and Therese Jones, PhD, Movie Review Editors Awakenings Starring Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, and Max von Sydow Directed by Penny Marshall, released December 22, 1990, Columbia Pictures, Rated PG-13, 121 minutes Reviewed by Allison Kavey, PhD ased on British neurologist Oliver Sacks’ memoir Awakenings, the movie of the same title tells Sacks’ storyB fictionalized through American doctor Malcom Sayer (Robin Williams). The movie portrays Sacks’ work with catatonic patients during the summer of 1969. In the movie, Sayer finds a temporary cure for a group of unresponsive patients confined to a mental hospital for several decades. Many of the patients were inaccurately diagnosed with “atypical schizophrenia,” and “fed and watered” by the institution’s staff until Sayer, a research- trained neurologist, was hired. Sayer nearly did not get the job. In his interview, he carefully explains the experimental work he has been engaged in for the previous five years, the goal of which Robin Williams and Robert De Niro in Awakenings. © 1990 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy was to extract one decagram of myelin from four tons of of Columbia Pictures earth worms. The head of the hospital board cuts him off, noting that his hypothesis was not possible. Sayer proudly announces, “I know that. I proved it!” Collecting all of the schizophrenia cases into a group, However, Sayer stumbles as the interviewers repeatedly Sayer notes, “You’d think at a certain point all of these ask him about his experience with patients.
    [Show full text]
  • POSTER PRESENTATIONS POSTER SESSION 1 – Monday 15Th
    XVI WORLD CONGRESS OF PSYCHIATRY “FOCUSING ON ACCESS, QUALITY AND HUMANE CARE” MADRID, SPAIN | September 14-18, 2014 POSTER PRESENTATIONS POSTER SESSION 1 – Monday 15th ADHD: ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 – 109 Addiction: _________________________________________________________________________________________ 110 – 275 Anxiety, Stress and Adjustment Disorders: _________________________________________ 276 – 368 Art and Psychiatry: ___________________________________________________________________________ 369 – 384 Biological Psychiatry and Neuroscience: ____________________________________________ 385 – 443 Brain and Pain: _________________________________________________________________________________ 444 – 449 Child and Adolescent Mental and Behavioral Disorders: ______________________ 450 – 603 Conflict Management and Resolution: _______________________________________________ 604 – 606 Dementia, Delirium and Related Cognitive Disorders: _________________________ 607 – 674 Diagnostic Systems: _________________________________________________________________________ 675 – 683 Disasters and Emergencies in Psychiatry: __________________________________________ 684 – 690 Dissociative, Somatization and Factitious Disorders: __________________________ 691 – 710 Eating Disorders: ______________________________________________________________________________ 711 – 759 Ecology, Psychiatry and Mental Health: ______________________________________________ 760 – 762 Epidemiology
    [Show full text]
  • Designing Supportive Soundscapes for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia
    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Concept Paper Designing Supportive Soundscapes for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia Paul Devos 1,* , Francesco Aletta 1,2 , Pieter Thomas 1 , Mirko Petrovic 3, Tara Vander Mynsbrugge 4, Dominique Van de Velde 4,5, Patricia De Vriendt 4,5 and Dick Botteldooren 1 1 Department of Information Technology, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; f.aletta@ucl.ac.uk (F.A.); pieter.thomas@ugent.be (P.T.); Dick.Botteldooren@UGent.be (D.B.) 2 Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, London WC1H0NN, UK 3 Department of Internal Medicine and Paediatrics, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium; Mirko.Petrovic@UGent.be 4 Department of Occupational Therapy, Artevelde University College, 9000 Ghent, Belgium; tara.vandermynsbrugge@arteveldehs.be (T.V.M.); dominique.vandevelde@arteveldehs.be (D.V.d.V.); Patricia.DeVriendt@arteveldehs.be (P.D.V.) 5 Department of Occupational Therapy, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium * Correspondence: p.devos@ugent.be Received: 31 October 2019; Accepted: 28 November 2019; Published: 4 December 2019 Abstract: Sound and its resulting soundscape is a major appraisal component of the living environment. Where environmental sounds (e.g., outdoor traffic sounds) are often perceived as negative, a soundscape (e.g., containing natural sounds) can also have a positive effect on health and well-being. This supportive effect of a soundscape is getting increasing attention for use in practice. This paper addresses the design of a supportive sonic environment for persons with dementia in nursing homes. Starting from a review of key mechanisms related to sonic perception, cognitive deficits and related behavior, a framework is derived for the composition of a sonic environment for persons with dementia.
    [Show full text]
  • Musical Hallucinations in Schizophrenia
    Mental Illness 2015; volume 7:6065 Musical hallucinations in reported having musical hallucinations.4 Notably the musical hallucinations tended to Correspondence: Robert G. Bota, UC Irvine schizophrenia be sudden in onset, familiar, and mixed instru- Health Neuropsychiatric Center, 101 The City mental and vocal, with most patients having a Drive South, Orange, CA 92868, USA. Jessica Galant-Swafford, Robert Bota soothing affective response to the music Tel.:+1.714.456.2056. Department of Psychiatry, University of (62%). Interestingly, when the musical halluci- E-mail: rbota@uci.edu California, Irvine, CA, USA nations had more religious content, the patients claimed to have less volitional control Received for publication: 8 June 2015. Accepted for publication: 8 June 2015. Musical hallucinations (MH) are complex over them. This suggests that the presence or phenomena that are associated with hearing absence of religious content in the musical This work is licensed under a Creative Commons loss, brain disease (glioma, epilepsy, cere- hallucination may be useful for differentiating Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License (CC BY- brovascular disease, encephalitis), and psychi- between musical imagery and musical halluci- NC 3.0). atric disorders such as major depressive disor- nations. ©Copyright J. Galant-Swafford and R. Bota, 2015 der, bipolar disease, and schizophrenia. MH Baba and Hamada suggest that musical hal- lucinations in patients with schizophrenia are Licensee PAGEPress, Italy are also commonly seen in people without Mental Illness 2015; 7:6065 phenomena that originate as memory repre- otorhinolaryngological, neurological, or mental doi:10.4081/mi.2015.6065 illness pathology.1 sentations or pseudo-hallucinations akin to In his novel Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks evoked musical imagery, which transition into true hallucinations during the progression of writes that his patients with musical halluci- cal content that were obsessive-compulsive in the disease.
    [Show full text]
  • Musical Hallucinations, Musical Imagery, and Earworms: a New Phenomenological Survey
    Consciousness and Cognition 65 (2018) 83–94 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Consciousness and Cognition journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/concog Musical hallucinations, musical imagery, and earworms: A new phenomenological survey T ⁎ Peter Moseleya,b, , Ben Alderson-Daya, Sukhbinder Kumarc, Charles Fernyhougha a Psychology Department, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom b School of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, Marsh Lane, Preston PR1 2HE, United Kingdom c Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle NE1 7RU, United Kingdom ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Musical hallucinations (MH) account for a significant proportion of auditory hallucinations, but Auditory hallucinations there is a relative lack of research into their phenomenology. In contrast, much research has Musical hallucinations focused on other forms of internally generated musical experience, such as earworms (in- Earworms voluntary and repetitive inner music), showing that they can vary in perceived control, repeti- Mental imagery tiveness, and in their effect on mood. We conducted a large online survey (N = 270), including Phenomenology 44 participants with MH, asking participants to rate imagery, earworms, or MH on several variables. MH were reported as occurring less frequently, with less controllability, less lyrical content, and lower familiarity, than other forms of inner music. MH were also less likely to be reported by participants with higher levels of musical expertise. The findings are outlined in relation to other forms of hallucinatory experience and inner music, and their implications for psychological models of hallucinations discussed. 1. Introduction Auditory hallucinations (AH) are defined as the conscious experience of sounds that occur in the absence of any actual sensory input.
    [Show full text]