Seizures from Solving Sudoku Puzzles

http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2456131

by nostromo • 11 years ago

23 14 11 years ago

archneur.jamanetwork.com

jacquesm2• 11 years ago

That's a bit of a link-bait title, the first line of the abstract reads:

"This case report describes a patient who had hypoxia and posthypoxic intention myoclonus and subsequently developed clonic seizures while solving sudoku puzzles."

So the patient already had some brain damage and the puzzles were a trigger (there are many known potential triggers for seizures including stress).

vacri2• 11 years ago

I'm finding declaring titles to be link-bait the new 'Betteridge's law' spam on HN. In context, this title is entirely not link-bait.

Anyway, regarding seizures, absolutely anything can be a trigger, but is highly dependent on the individual. Stress and sleep deprivation are two common triggers for epileptics. There is an abstract concept called a 'seizure threshold', and when you reach it, you have a seizure. Things like stress reduce this supposed 'seizure threshold'. Multiple stressors reduce the threshold more.

But in my time in neuro, there were a few once-offs like in this article - the notable one was the patient who had seizures when he saw orange circles. Other orange shapes were fine, and other coloured circles were fine - it was just orange circles. Another was a patient who responded to ice on the lips, though we couldn't replicate that in the lab. These kind of triggers are unique, but they show that anything can trigger, if you have the concomitant wiring problem in your brain...

jacquesm2• 11 years ago

The whole point of a link-bait title is that 'in context' it is still accurate. If sudoku puzzles caused seizures by themselves then the title would be accurate. As it is the fact that that particular patient already had a problem seems to me to be quite important and by leaving that fact out the publication likely gets more exposure.

anything can trigger, if you have the concomitant wiring problem in your brain...

Exactly. So ordinary sudoku solving people should be perfectly ok.

TeMPOraL2• 11 years ago

I'm finding declaring titles to be link-bait the new 'Betteridge's law' spam on HN.

Indeed - as something like 95% of submitted headlines with questions follow Betteridge's law, so similarly most linkbait declarations are also true.

(I'm not trolling here, this is my observation from hanging out on HN way too much time. Complainers aren't the problem; it's journalism that's shit.)

flashman• 11 years ago

Here's a short story in which certain patterns have been discovered which break the human mind: http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/blit.htm

Putting aside fiction, these cases are always so interesting. How much has neuroscience been advanced by studying the very particular ways in which brains don't work?

qewrffewqwfqew• 11 years ago

Plenty. I'd hazard that's how most medical science has come to be.

If you're on this site and haven't already been strongly reccommended to read Oliver Sacks, do so. Broader than neuroscience, look for memoirs of British surgeons during WWII.

fryguy• 11 years ago

The book Lexicon uses this as a core concept, that all human minds can be hacked like this, if you know the right pattern for that person.

nitin_flanker• 11 years ago

COuld anyone here please explain whether it is a good thing or a bad thing happened to that guy?

blisterpeanuts• 11 years ago

$30 for a 24-hour "subscription" (presumably cheaper if you're a med student or doc, but I didn't bother to check).

Am I the only one who wonders whether this access model is sustainable? How many people would actually pay such a fee, and just to read about a single patient, not a major study.

Seizures from Solving Sudoku Puzzles

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