Secrets Of The Mind Analysis

The people in the documentary “Secrets of the Mind” have suffered damages in small sections of the brain. The damages in the brain affected the way they think, this have caused them to perceive themselves and others around them differently. In order for test the scientist had to learn the causes of their symptoms, and had to compare it to how a normal brain would work. One of the studies Doctor Ramachandran did a study on a patient named Derek Steel Derek Steel was involved in a motorcycle accident and because of the accident had his left arm amputated and wasn’t able to use it again. Derek stated that he would feel pain in his missing limb to Dr. Ramachandran. The doctor felt as if the internal sense of the body of what we have reconstructed

The left side of the body is controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain and vice versa. The sensory for touch is controlled in a section of the brain called the somatosensory cortex. Every point of the body has a correspondence part in the brain and vice versa. So Derek felt pain from his phantom limb when also his left side of his face was touched. Interestingly, the corresponding part of the brain for the hand is close to the corresponding part of the brain that is for the face that is used for sensory in either of them. Normally the sensory signals of the face only activate the area of the face. When the sensory signals form the face activated invaded the sensory for the hand in the brain for the hand it activated the hand region in the brain, after it wasn’t getting any correspondence or input from left arm. In Derek’s brain there’s been a reorganization in his brain, after his amputation according to Dr. Ramachandran. Dr. Ramachandran believed that pathways or the way parts of the brain functions can change. In order to see if this true, Dr. Ramachandran did a test on Derek to observe his brain activity. When undergoing a CAT scan to see what would happen. In his results, left side of Derek’s brain would respond normally to touch. On the right side of his brain the green spot wouldn’t be present because of the missing limb. The red area that correspond to his left cheek took over his whole left side of his body according to the CAT scan observation of the right hemisphere of the brain. In resulting the sensory part of the brain created a new pathway for the brain has been opened up. It’s either from recent neuron-fibers or pre-existing pathways of the brain that is now activated that causes Derek to feel senses in his missing limb. Phantom limb sensation doesn’t only occur in limbs but also in other body parts except for the