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However, Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful
observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have been successful. For
example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations among components of music
comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no
music center in the brain. Because many people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain
localisation of all mental functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.
Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no "cures” for neurological problems
involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it in another, or can have both
positive and negative effects in the same patient. Treatments mentioned seem to be almost exclusively
antiepileptic medications, which “damp down” the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness
varies widely.
Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music brain symptoms is reported to
have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognizes the existence of new technologies, among them far
more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the standard neurological EEG test, he does not call
for their use. In fact, although he exhibits the greatest com-passion for patients, he conveys no sense of
urgency about the pursuit of new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This
absence echoes the hook’s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of observation may be
lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both approaches, though, and we can only
hope that the neuro logical community will respond.
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