Dear Tipsters:
When lecturing on the sensory cortex and the homunculus last week, I had a
vague memory of something Jim Kalat said at his recent NITOP address, when
he was discussing phantom limb pain. I wanted to tell the students about it
but couldn't recall the details.
Kalat mentioned parenthetically that sometimes sensitivity from the neurons
normally devoted to the genital region crosses over to the foot region,
such that these patients report having orgasms in their foot (and ask for
the condition NOT to be treated!) Anyway, I don't remember whether he said
this occurred in patients with peripheral or central nervous system damage,
or in patients who had some sort of damage to their genitals (e.g.
amputation). I was so taken by the concept he was describing (imagine
walking barefoot in warm sand!!) that I failed to pay attention to the
conditions under which this phenomenon occurred.
If any of you were at Jim's presentation and/or have any familiarity with
this from the clinical literature, I would be most grateful if you would
enlighten me.
Esther
Esther Yoder Strahan, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Heidelberg College
310 E. Market St.
Tiffin, Ohio 44883
U.S.A.
Tel. (419) 448-2238
Fax (419) 448-2236
