Comments on: The Inaugural Body in Mind Riddle Competition

By: The winner of the Body in Mind riddle

The winner of the Body in Mind riddle — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:01:47 +0000

[...] in Clinical science,Competitions,Research Some time ago (Heidi says ‘in the dim distance past’) we ran a riddle about this photo: [...]

By: Luke Parkitny

Luke Parkitny — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:45:06 +0000

I am not allowed to vote but I can’t resist chiming in (as usual).

The experiment is clearly a two-part study into the incidence of finger amputations in mexican hat dancers (seen from the top).

Part one will be a longitudinal study, following two communities of mexican hat dancers (obesity will be an exclusion criteria as evidenced by both groups being able to see their feet (the squiggly lines – the middle line is the nose of course!).

Why finger amputations? The brim is sharp guys! You should know that!

Part two will be an RCT to investigate whether wearing sunglasses (thus imparting a degree of coolness onto the participants whilst reducing vision) will influence their ability to read and follow the instructions for performing the dance (you see the picture in the book is actually an optical illusion that looks like the brain but is in fact the path that the dancers are expected to trace across the red dusty plain). If you look closely there are instructions for blunting the brim just next to what looks like Wernicke’s area – which is appropriate given its relationship with written language.

Results of this study will allow us to predict and prevent mexican hat related injuries which cause the community between $1 and $1billion in health costs per annum.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:01:48 +0000

Extensive testing still going on, experiment wrapped in secrecy…. I am going to take part on Thursday and if I live to tell the tale I’ll let you know as soon as possible (if my finger hasn’t dropped off in the meantime)

By: Matthias Weinberger

Matthias Weinberger — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:51:44 +0000

Heidi:
are you finally allowed to tell the world what the experiment was all about?
I told you at the conference that you can give me my prize right there. ))

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 09:40:09 +0000

You really don’t want to know what I thought when I first glanced at the thumb in that photo…………!!

By: Matthias Weinberger

Matthias Weinberger — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:20:47 +0000

My 2 cents:
looks to me as if the finger is mounted on something. Judging by the desk it is sitting on I’d say it can be rotated.
The picture on the wall could be used as a distraction – the subject has to keep looking at the picture while the finger is being moved.
Vision comes into it because the lower visual field has lower resolution than the fovea.
So if you look straight ahead and something is moving in your lower visual field – what happens to the corresponding representation in S1?
That’s my best guess.

As a side note: my proposal for a therapy for BIID (people who want to get rid of a limb) is to give them glasses where the lower half is dark – so that there is no (unconscious) visual feedback coming from their legs. Maybe that could alleviate the symptoms?? Trying to incorporate the unwanted limb into the body schema by mirror feedback have failed so far – so why not try to “amputate the limb visually” by blocking feedback? Just a thought.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:36:40 +0000

I’ve just been recruited as a subject on the study – and as Lorimer is keeping a tight lid on it I also don’t know what it’s about… yet

By: Prutha

Prutha — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:53:25 +0000

Hypnotic imagery and hallucinations are being used to treat phantom limb pain.

By: Prutha

Prutha — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:07:47 +0000

I think the painting is representational art, it portrays an entoptic image of trans state. So the art describes a hallucination stage. The amputated finger has its representation in the brain and so a person is still aware of the finger. The phantom limb is a form of hallucination.

By: calvin

calvin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:03:42 +0000

ah. it’s a synaesthesia. vision, tactile experience, and the spray? thing (for smell) it’s a synaesthesia brain analysis study, perhaps using FMRI or other brain scan technology.

or… it’s about dreaming. How do we feel and see during dreams? How is the neural activity combined into whole experiences in a dream? How is a vivid dream different from normal imagination? It’s a brain study of dreaming behavior. Again using FMRI or other brain scan technology.

or, it’s both! in dreaming and in other surreal experiences we often have synaesthetic like experiences. what is the brain activity like during those experiences? When a synaesthetic person dreams how are their dreams different from a typical person? again using FMRI or other brain scan technology.