Phantom pains are defined as a vivid sensation that a missing limb is still present and can still be used. This occurrence usually only happens in amputees but lately scientist were able to replicate this pain in non-amputees. During these experiments, patients without an amputation would be sat down at a table will their right hand behind a screen, as the picture below illustrates.
The scientist were testing if sight had anything to do with the phantom pains. It turned out that the perception of the invisible hand led to the part of the brain that are usually active when a person sees their real hand being touched increase in activity. Another test they did involved the participants closing their eyes and pointing to their hand, the participant usually ended up pointing to where their invisible hand was. This finalized the scientists beliefs of sight having little to do with the phantom pains and more having to do with the person's brain creating the illusion of feeling in the amputated, or in this case invisible, hand. There were 234 volunteers for this experiment which created a strong base for their results.
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| Woman during the experiment |
Themes of Nature of Science
- Science is based on evidence
- Science is collaborative
- Importance of repeatability
- http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2009/03/25/study_shows_brain_activity_associated_with_phantom_limbs.html
- http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2007/04/12/wired_for_sound_how_the_brain_senses_visual_illusions.html
- http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2006/03/24/how_does_the_brain_know_what_the_right_hand_is_doing.html
Blog Written By: Julia Schroeck Hr.2
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