On Fri, 26 Jan 2001, Esther Yoder Strahan wrote:
>
> 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)< snip>
I have an unhealthy compulsion to respond when (because?) I
should be doing other things. This story is from V. Ramachandran,
_Phantoms in the Brain_ (1998).
The foot was amputated, and neural reorganization presumably took
place in the cortical regions mediating sensation in the penis
and foot, that is centrally. These areas are probably adjacent.
The way I understand this is that the following connections form:
penis------>cortical area for penis------->cortical area for foot
probably because connections from the foot have been vacated from
the cortical area for the foot (other research suggests this).
So stimulation of the penis could lead to the sensation of an
orgasm in the foot.
According to Ramachandran, the patient actually said:
P: "Dr. Ramachandran...I lost my leg below the knee about two
months ago...every time I have sexual intercourse, I experience
sensations in my phantom foot. How do you explain that?"
R: "...One possibility is that the genitals are right next to the
foot in the body's brain maps. Don't worry about it.
P: "You still don't understand. You see, I actually experience my
orgasm in my foot. And therefore it's much bigger than it used to
be because it's no longer just confined to my genitals".
I credit David Austin of North Carolina State University for the
above (from his e-mail), including the suggestion from an unnamed
colleague of his for the title of this post. See, I knew there
was some reason why I save these things.
-Stephen
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
