In the PHANTOM WITHIN series. Originally published in 1998. Uses a series
of case histories to introduce strange and unexplored mental worlds.
Ramachandran has discovered that the brain is continually organising itself in
response to change and uses the case histories to illustrate fundamental
principles of how the human brain operates.Phantoms In The Brain takes a revolutionary new approach to theories of the
brain, from one of the world's leading experimental neurologists. Phantoms In
The Brain, using a series of case histories, introduces strange and unexplored
mental worlds. Ramachandran, through his research into brain damage, has
discovered that the brain is continually organising itself in response to
change. A woman maintains that her left arm is not paralysed, a young man loses
his right arm in a motorcycle accident, yet he continues to feel a phantom arm
with vivid sensation of movement. In a series of experiments using nothing more
than Q-tips and dribbles of warm water the young man helped Ramachandran
discover how the brain is remapped after injury. Ramachandran believes that
cases such as these illustrate fundamental principles of how the human brain
operates. The brain 'needs to create a "script" or a story to make sense of the
world, a unified and internally consistent belief system.' Ramachandran's
radical new approach will have far-reaching effects.
