Hi all,
There was an article in Life Magazine that discussed brain
reorganization at length. The end of the article covered phantom
limbs. After a discussion of a man whose non-existent arm felt
sensation following pressure on his cheek:
"Most amputees, for example, feel pain in their missing limbs, but
not all do. Deborah Finnegan-Ling, a graduate students in
neuroscience at the University of Vermont, is a disciple of
Ramachandran. She is writing her dissertation on phantom pain, a
phenomenon of which she is familiar: Her lower left leg was amputated
after a farming accident three years ago. Because the area of the
brain for the foot is adjacent to the area for the genitalia,
Finnegan-Ling's missing limb aches when she makes love. 'I consider
myself tough,' she says, 'But the pain is so acute that I'll cry.'
Nobody knows why, but some amputees feel phantom pleasure rather than
pain. Told about a man who feels an orgasmic sensation in her lost
foot during sex, Finnegan-Ling sighs, 'I wish,' she says."
Golden, D. (1994, July). Building a Better Brain. _Life Magazine_,
63-70.
As an aside, see:
http://hubel.sfasu.edu/courseinfo/SL98/phantom4.html for apparent
plagiarism of this article.
--
Sue Frantz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Assistant Professor of Psychology Office: (505) 439-3731
New Mexico State Univ - Alamogordo Fax: (505) 439-3802
Alamogordo, NM 88310 http://alamo.nmsu.edu/~frantz
