This allows us to realize the fact that something that we see and hear is happening together, for instance seeing a light flash while there is a beep. Our brain will connect these two events and therefore allow us to perceive them as happening together. For an example of this you can look at a badly dubbed movie, your brain doesn't register the movement of the lips with the audio and therefore you realize it doesn't bind together. Take a look at the video to get a clearer idea about what I'm talking about. You can skip ahead about 2 and a half minutes to get to the better stuff.
One of the more interesting things that I have come across is the idea of using a mirror to "create" the sensation of having a third arm. By using a mirror to reflect an arm while having one arm hidden and then touching each of your fingers to your thumb for a minute or two you will end up feeling like you have three arms. Now I personally haven't witnessed this but I have heard that you can use this same technique to help alleviate some phantom limb pains. One of my professors once told us that there was a patient who had his hand amputated, but after the amputation his missing limb would start to cramp, and so to alleviate this he had to use a mirror and ball up his remaining hand into a tight fist and slowly release it. After a few repetitions of this the phantom pain subsided because the brain was tricked into thinking that the limb wasn't cramping anymore and was instead opening up.
How freaking cool is this!?
I totally get you about how crazy interesting the phantom limb thing is or well the mirror therapy you talked about. It's so crazy how this patient actually thinks he has his amputated foot back. I think that's a great type of therapy since it really helps people stay active or at least think they're staying active. I love the anecdote you gave about your professor talking about that man that was getting cramps in his amputated arm. How crazy is that? He actually alleviated his pain by looking in a mirror and clenching his fist slowly. Great topic I actually learned a lot from that second video.
ReplyDeleteI really loved this post. Its a very interesting topic and its very informative. I really enjoyed the last video that depicted mirror therapy for phantom limbs. Its quite fascinating how something like using a mirror to reflect your leg can make it seem like a missing limb is actually there. Our brains are so complex I wouldn't have thought that we could "trick" our own brains. Its weird when you sit there and think about it. WE can trick our OWN brains. I can't wrap my head around that because usually when you trick someone they are unaware they are being tricked but in this case you know your attempting to trick your brain, so then what? hmm?
ReplyDeleteAn ways, I started looking on the web to read more about phantom limbs and i stumbled across this site lets you "try and experience a phantom limb temporarily". I personally haven't tried it but it sounds like something to try to better understand this.
.http://www.highexistence.com/how-to-temporarily-experience-a-phantom-limb/