Self-perceived attention difficulties are associated with sensory hypersensitivity in migraine.

BACKGROUND: Attention is the process which enables to preferentially select salient or relevant stimuli and to attenuate the response to irrelevant incoming stimuli. Migraine is characterized by both attentional alterations and an abnormal sensory processing to external stimulations. The aim of the study was to investigate potential interactions between self-perceived attentional difficulties and sensory hypersensitivity in migraine patients. METHODS: Forty-six episodic migraineurs without aura and 46 healthy controls filled out questionnaires on self-perceived attention difficulties and self-reported sensitivity to visual, auditory and olfactory stimulations. RESULTS: Compared to controls, migraineurs reported significantly higher levels of attention difficulty and sensory sensitivity. Sensory hypersensitivity correlated significantly with self-perceived attentional difficulties in migraineurs (P=0.002), but not with migraine disability or levels of anxiety or depression. Ictal and interictal sensory sensitivities were significantly correlated in migraineurs within visual (P<0.001), auditory (P<0.001) and olfactory (P=0.001) modalities. CONCLUSION: This study shows for the first time an association between self-reported attentional difficulties and multimodal sensory hypersensitivity. Studies combining behavioral and physiological measures of sensory processing and attention processes are necessary to further understand the peculiar vulnerability of migraineurs to sensory stimuli.

[Acquired amusia and musical anhedonia]. / Amusie acquise et anhédonie musicale.

Amusia is defined as an auditory agnosia, specifically related to music, resulting from a cerebral lesion or being of congenital origin. Amusia is rarely associated to musical anhedonia. We report the case of a 43-year-old patient who suffered in January 2012 from a right ischemic lesion affecting the superior temporal cortex, in particular lateral Heschl Gyrus and the posterior part of the Superior Temporal Gyrus (Brodmann areas 21 and 22). Neuropsychological tests revealed an amusia combined to musical anhedonia. The specificity of this case is based on the combination of both syndromes highlighting the relation between neural networks involved in the processing of musical information in both its perceptual and emotional components.

[Defects in accuracy of the singing voice: tonal competences and deficits]. / Les défauts de justesse de la voix chantée: compétences et déficits tonaux.

Whereas the general population usually sings accurately (Dalla Bella 2007), certain individuals display a real deficit in pitch matching whilst singing. The description of this deficit in adults is in its infancy. This is an acoustic study of 15 adults judged socially as poor singers. The accuracy is tested by three elementary tests of song: A reproduction of isolated notes, a reproduction of sequences of notes, a song "a capella". A test of microphone-tonal discrimination was added and the fundamental frequency of the productions was analyzed. We showed that the deficits are heterogeneous: The control of pitch can be insufficient on the level of the tonal centre, the intervals between notes, and sometimes on the level of the note itself with regard to the target being aimed at. The error tends to be an undervaluation. The capacity for fine discrimination is however preserved for part of our study population. Broader studies of deviating productions should be undertaken looking at the diversity of deterioration and the specificity of the tasks as they could shed a new light on the cognitive processes which control the installation of the vocal control.