A Dutchman developed an urge to listen to country singer Johnny Cash after being given ‘deep brain stimulation’ to cure his obsessive compulsive disorder.

A case study in the scientific magazine Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience writes about how the man, ‘Mr B’, only wanted to listen to the country singer while receiving a form of treatment which involved having electrodes implanted into specific parts of his brain.

Doctors at the University of Amsterdam implanted the device into the part of B’s nucleus brain which processes rewards and good feelings and can cause addictive or compulsive disorders if not working properly. B, who was 59, had suffered obssessive behaviour for 46 years.

Within six weeks, it was clear the surgery had been effective, the Guardian said. But then over the next six months, he went on to develop an obsession with Johnny Cash after hearing Ring of Fire on the radio.

When the batteries on the electrode implants run down, B’s musical taste returns to what it had been before the surgery: a few Dutch singers, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

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