In this two-part documentary Professor Vilayanur Ramachandran investigates four neurological conditions, blind- sight, phantom limbs, anosognosia and hemispatial neglect. Ramachandran is able to express neurological/ psychological ideas in a way that is comprehensible to the layperson. The documentary is a great way to learn about the human brain and how it works, and people from all walks of life may find this very informative. In the first episode Dr Ramachandran explores how brain-damaged patients can still feel their amputated limbs long after surgery.
The limb which is still felt by patients is called the Phantom Limb, as Ramachandran shows patients who suffer from this also can feel as though they are able to move it and often feel pain due to this urge, which cannot possibly be achieved, or can it? Derek who lost his arm in a motorcycle accident began to feel his amputated arm as soon as he woke up form surgery. Through tests Ramachandran found that by touching other parts of his body, in this case his jaw line the patient was able to feel a stoking sensation on his phantom arm.
The Professor explains that the body is mapped out in the brains cortex and every part of the body has its own representation in the brain. He goes on that the part of the brain representing the missing arm is not receiving any input and therefore this sensory part in the brain moves on to the face representation for input. This is why Derek can feel his phantom arm when his cheek is stroked. This remapping idea was just a hypothesis, but a brain scan gives results which provide evidence for this theory.
We can have phantoms for any part of the body, including menstral cramps which could be something interesting to test. James suffers from phantom pain through losing his hand, he feels that his hand is constantly clenched and this causes cramps. Dr Ramachandran finds that though inventing a ‘mirror box’, the patient is able to see one limb as two and the movement of this one limb in the mirror appears for the patient as the phantom limb too is moving. One of the patients given a mirror box reported that they were almost instantly releieved from the cramps or spasms endured to to their phantom limb.
This was explained by the Neurologists to be due to the visual input, as he states that ‘visual input is important in helping patients’ due to the fact of learned paralysis, which means the brain tries to move the arm ect, but gets no response causing spasms and pain. The mirror box allows patients to believe that the phantom limb is carrying out the commands sent from the brain, even though in reality this is not the case. Professor Ramachandran also talks about Blind-sight. Graham had a road accident causing brain damage this has lead to him being blind but at the same time still being able to see.
He cannot see objects on the right side unless they move as he can only detect the direction of which the object is moving. Ramachandran suggests that there are two pathways going from the eyeball to the brain, and therefore Graham is only using his unconscious blind-sight pathway as the visual path is damaged. Graham compares himself to a lizard as they also cannot see but manage to spot the movement of their food, this is very important for survival. Dr R compares blind-sight to driving a car as he explains we all use it and it allows us to stear our way through the world as if on auto-pilot, without consciously being aware.