One more TED video.
http://www.ted.com/talks/oliver_sacks_what_hallucination_reveals_about_our_minds.html
Oliver Sacks has dealt with many visual and auditory hallucinations, most due to hearing or vision loss. This video speaks primariliy of visual but imagine for a moment your brain having an internal I-Pod, access to all kinds of music at a moments notice with no disturbance to anyone around you. A plethora of songs in your head sounds like it would be a great thing, until you take away all of the controls. Random bits and pieces of songs, at loud volume levels in your head all day every day! This is the world of someone who sufferers from auditory hallucinations (sometimes called musical ear syndrome). It is very normal to have a song stuck in your head for a brief period, but the brain is bombarded by all kinds of stimuli and often the song is soon forgotten. This is not the case with musical hallucinations. Music hallucinations occur when a set of neurons in the brain begin to misfire and those who suffer from them feel like they are always hearing music, even though there is actually nothing playing. There is no other symptom of music hallucination and studies have shown that music hallucination tends to be the only psychosis present in patients.
Dr. Sacks spends most of the time in this video describing a 90 year old patient of his in the video and painting the picture of what it is like to have visual hallucinations accompanied by no auditory ones. Bringing up many interesting points about parts of the brain involved, and the relation of these hallucinations to our past memories and emotions. He also points out the fact that many people who experience these problems don't come forward. Why is there no motivation to let primary caregivers know about these conditions? He also differentiates between Charles Bonnet syndrome and these hallucinations. There are many interesting aspects of sensory deprecation, these hallucinations can have considerable impact on some people's emotional state. He also brings up at the end geometrical hallucinations, and the parts of the brain all of these interact with. I would definitely like to know more.
http://www.ted.com/talks/oliver_sacks_what_hallucination_reveals_about_our_minds.html
Oliver Sacks has dealt with many visual and auditory hallucinations, most due to hearing or vision loss. This video speaks primariliy of visual but imagine for a moment your brain having an internal I-Pod, access to all kinds of music at a moments notice with no disturbance to anyone around you. A plethora of songs in your head sounds like it would be a great thing, until you take away all of the controls. Random bits and pieces of songs, at loud volume levels in your head all day every day! This is the world of someone who sufferers from auditory hallucinations (sometimes called musical ear syndrome). It is very normal to have a song stuck in your head for a brief period, but the brain is bombarded by all kinds of stimuli and often the song is soon forgotten. This is not the case with musical hallucinations. Music hallucinations occur when a set of neurons in the brain begin to misfire and those who suffer from them feel like they are always hearing music, even though there is actually nothing playing. There is no other symptom of music hallucination and studies have shown that music hallucination tends to be the only psychosis present in patients.
Dr. Sacks spends most of the time in this video describing a 90 year old patient of his in the video and painting the picture of what it is like to have visual hallucinations accompanied by no auditory ones. Bringing up many interesting points about parts of the brain involved, and the relation of these hallucinations to our past memories and emotions. He also points out the fact that many people who experience these problems don't come forward. Why is there no motivation to let primary caregivers know about these conditions? He also differentiates between Charles Bonnet syndrome and these hallucinations. There are many interesting aspects of sensory deprecation, these hallucinations can have considerable impact on some people's emotional state. He also brings up at the end geometrical hallucinations, and the parts of the brain all of these interact with. I would definitely like to know more.
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