Isn’t a simpler justification for the first story (epileptic seizures during recitation of a poem) that the particular synapses the student was using to recite the poem had a problem (demyelination?) that provoked seizures when used? Like a CPU core that has flawed silicon, or a road with a pothole, the system as a whole can work fine if you avoid it, but it’s a fatal flaw if you don’t.