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Table of contents (5 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book presents new findings on body image and also introduces new neuroscience-based methods for the fields of neurology and neurorehabilitation. Even when the hand is stationary we know its position – information that is needed by the brain to plan movements. If the sensory input from a limb is removed as the result of an accident, or as part of an experiment with local anesthesia, then a ‘phantom’ limb commonly develops. We used ischemic anesthesia of one limb to study the mechanisms that define this phenomenon. Surprisingly, if the fingers, wrist, elbow, ankle, and knee are extended before and during an ischemic block, then the perceived limb is flexed at the joint and vice versa. Furthermore, the limb is perceived to move continuously with no default position. The key parameter for these illusory changes in limb position is the difference in discharge rates between afferents in the flexor and extensor muscles at a joint. The final position of the phantom limbdepends on its initial position, suggesting that a body image uses incoming proprioceptive information for determination of starting points and endpoints when generating movements. In addition, the change in position does not involve limb postures that are anatomically impossible, suggesting that illusory posture is constrained by body maps. These results provide new information about how the brain generates phantom limbs.
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Systematic Changes in Body Image Following Formation of Phantom Limbs
Authors: Nobuyuki Inui
Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Biology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1460-4
Publisher: Springer Singapore
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-10-1459-8Published: 11 July 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-981-10-1460-4Published: 30 June 2016
Series ISSN: 2192-2179
Series E-ISSN: 2192-2187
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 59
Number of Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour
Topics: Human Physiology, Neurosciences, Neurology