Skip to main content
PMC home page
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences logoLink to Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
. 1998 Nov 29;353(1377):1851–1859. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1998.0337

Consciousness and body image: lessons from phantom limbs, Capgras syndrome and pain asymbolia.

V S Ramachandran 1
PMCID: PMC1692421  PMID: 9854257

Abstract

Words such as 'consciousness' and 'self' actually encompass a number of distinct phenomena that are loosely lumped together. The study of neurological syndromes allows us to explore the neural mechanisms that might underlie different aspects of self, such as body image and emotional responses to sensory stimuli, and perhaps even laughter and humour. Mapping the 'functional logic' of the many different attributes of human nature on to specific neural circuits in the brain offers the best hope of understanding how the activity of neurons gives rise to conscious experience. We consider three neurological syndromes (phantom limbs, Capgras delusion and pain asymbolia) to illustrate this idea.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (200.3 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aglioti S., Bonazzi A., Cortese F. Phantom lower limb as a perceptual marker of neural plasticity in the mature human brain. Proc Biol Sci. 1994 Mar 22;255(1344):273–278. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1994.0039. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aglioti S., Cortese F., Franchini C. Rapid sensory remapping in the adult human brain as inferred from phantom breast perception. Neuroreport. 1994 Jan 12;5(4):473–476. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199401120-00026. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Botvinick M., Cohen J. Rubber hands 'feel' touch that eyes see. Nature. 1998 Feb 19;391(6669):756–756. doi: 10.1038/35784. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. CRONHOLM B. Phantom limbs in amputees; a study of changes in the integration of centripetal impulses with special reference to referred sensations. Acta Psychiatr Neurol Scand Suppl. 1951;72:1–310. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Clarke S., Regli L., Janzer R. C., Assal G., de Tribolet N. Phantom face: conscious correlate of neural reorganization after removal of primary sensory neurones. Neuroreport. 1996 Nov 25;7(18):2853–2857. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Flor H., Elbert T., Knecht S., Wienbruch C., Pantev C., Birbaumer N., Larbig W., Taub E. Phantom-limb pain as a perceptual correlate of cortical reorganization following arm amputation. Nature. 1995 Jun 8;375(6531):482–484. doi: 10.1038/375482a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Katz J., Melzack R. Pain 'memories' in phantom limbs: review and clinical observations. Pain. 1990 Dec;43(3):319–336. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(90)90029-D. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kew J. J., Halligan P. W., Marshall J. C., Passingham R. E., Rothwell J. C., Ridding M. C., Marsden C. D., Brooks D. J. Abnormal access of axial vibrotactile input to deafferented somatosensory cortex in human upper limb amputees. J Neurophysiol. 1997 May;77(5):2753–2764. doi: 10.1152/jn.1997.77.5.2753. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lackner J. R. Some proprioceptive influences on the perceptual representation of body shape and orientation. Brain. 1988 Apr;111(Pt 2):281–297. doi: 10.1093/brain/111.2.281. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Melzack R. Phantom limbs. Sci Am. 1992 Apr;266(4):120–126. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0492-120. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Merzenich M. M., Nelson R. J., Stryker M. P., Cynader M. S., Schoppmann A., Zook J. M. Somatosensory cortical map changes following digit amputation in adult monkeys. J Comp Neurol. 1984 Apr 20;224(4):591–605. doi: 10.1002/cne.902240408. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Pons T. P., Garraghty P. E., Ommaya A. K., Kaas J. H., Taub E., Mishkin M. Massive cortical reorganization after sensory deafferentation in adult macaques. Science. 1991 Jun 28;252(5014):1857–1860. doi: 10.1126/science.1843843. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Ramachandran V. S., Hirstein W. The perception of phantom limbs. The D. O. Hebb lecture. Brain. 1998 Sep;121(Pt 9):1603–1630. doi: 10.1093/brain/121.9.1603. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ramachandran V. S., Rogers-Ramachandran D., Cobb S. Touching the phantom limb. Nature. 1995 Oct 12;377(6549):489–490. doi: 10.1038/377489a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Ramachandran V. S., Rogers-Ramachandran D., Stewart M. Perceptual correlates of massive cortical reorganization. Science. 1992 Nov 13;258(5085):1159–1160. doi: 10.1126/science.1439826. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Ramachandran V. S., Rogers-Ramachandran D. Synaesthesia in phantom limbs induced with mirrors. Proc Biol Sci. 1996 Apr 22;263(1369):377–386. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1996.0058. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ramachandran V. S., Stewart M., Rogers-Ramachandran D. C. Perceptual correlates of massive cortical reorganization. Neuroreport. 1992 Jul;3(7):583–586. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199207000-00009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Wall P. D. The presence of ineffective synapses and the circumstances which unmask them. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1977 Apr 26;278(961):361–372. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1977.0048. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Yang T. T., Gallen C. C., Ramachandran V. S., Cobb S., Schwartz B. J., Bloom F. E. Noninvasive detection of cerebral plasticity in adult human somatosensory cortex. Neuroreport. 1994 Feb 24;5(6):701–704. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199402000-00010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Yang T. T., Gallen C., Schwartz B., Bloom F. E., Ramachandran V. S., Cobb S. Sensory maps in the human brain. Nature. 1994 Apr 14;368(6472):592–593. doi: 10.1038/368592b0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences are provided here courtesy of The Royal Society

RESOURCES