New Scientist reports on the discovery that amputees experiencing phantom limb pain – the unscratchable itch on a missing limb – can give themselves a virtual massage by looking at other people.
Working with combat veterans, Vilayanur Ramachandran, of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, has now discovered a potential cure.
His treatment makes use of the newly discovered properties of mirror neurons. Mirror neurons fire when a person performs an intentional action – such as waving – and also when they observe someone else performing the same action. They are thought to help us predict the intentions of others by creating a “virtual reality” simulation of the action in our minds.
“You also find cells like this for touch,” says Ramachandran. “They fire when you touch yourself and when you watch someone else being touched in the same location.”
By watching someone rubbing a hand or scratching an elbow, the amputee felt the same benefits.