One of my favorite anecdotes about the human mind comes from "The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey. A executive asks the tennis pro at the club for a private lesson. The pro asks what he needs help with. The exec says he starts his backhand too high and he needs to change that. The pro sets him up in front of a mirror and they hit a few balls. The pro tells him to focus on his image right at the start of the backswing. The exec yells,"I start my backswing too high!" Get that? The exec tells the pro what his problem is and then discovers on "his own" that he has the problem the pro just said he had. Wha?
I read "The Brain That Changes Itself" aloud to Lynn. I didn't get very interested in the chapter on pain, since it focuses on phantom pain that is severe and debilitating but is in an arm or leg that has already been surgically removed. It's amputated. It's gone. It isn't there but it hurts like hell. V.S.Ramachandran is the scientist who figured out that at least in some cases, the problem is the brain map. When we feel pain, it is because our brain sends signals us that a part of our body is in disrepair. When the limb is amputated, that brain map is still in our head and can do several unhelpful things. It can get bored having no signals ever and expand into an adjacent area, using signals not meant for it.
A man with an amputated leg can experience sexual orgasms in his leg! The leg map is near the genital map in the head and the leg map may expand to include signals from the genitals. A woman with a breast removed may find that she gets stimulated from touch on her clavicle, her sternum or her ear. Those brain maps are near the one for the breast, which is still in her brain after the breast has been removed.
Just like the executive, I read all the words in the book aloud but since I had decided the words didn't apply to me, I did not pay attention. Yesterday and today, preparing for a discussion on a more detailed book by Ramachandran, I paid attention. Wow! Amazing stuff and I let it slip right by me the last time I read this.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
