Thursday, April 4, 2013

"Missing fingers grow as phantoms"

Hi all,

I haven't posted on this blog for some time, as my main interest, namely looking at Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) has occupied my time (take a look at my blog at http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.) However, after reviewing the material on this Anomalies blog I hope to post here more frequently.

I found the following item in "New Scientist" Volume 215, number 2877, 2012, page 14.

"A woman with two missing fingers has grown them back - albeit as part of a phantom limb.

The woman was born missing two fingers on her right hand.

Aged 18, she has the hand amputated after a car accident. She later began to feel that her missing limb was still present, and that the phantom hand had short versions of the missing fingers.

Paul McGeoch and colleagues at the University of California, San Diago, slowly trained her to feel that all five phantom digits were full (Neurocuse, DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2011.556128)

"The deformed hand was suppressing the brain's innate representation of her finger," he says. The innate representation kicked back in again after the accident.

Comments:

To read more on recent research on phantom limbs please take a look here.

I find this a fascinating area, which continues to expand the idea that the human brain is plastic, that is it can reform and change. For more on brain plasticity click here.

The possible connections to out-of-body-experiences and even abductions, have been explored elsewhere, in previous posts on the ufo blog. Please take a look at:

Quirkology

A sense of presence

Alien hand syndrome

Am I really here?

Sense of self returns