A recently published case report of a supernumerary phantom limb in a man with left-sided hemiplegia did not take note that this phenomenon has been extensively documented in the neurological literature for well over 100 years. The present comment provides a brief introduction to the clinical and experimental approaches to supernumerary phantom limbs. It also emphasizes the theoretical importance of this condition for understanding the neurological mechanisms subserving the experience of having a body.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BorsE. (1951) Phantom limbs of patients with spinal cord injury. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 66, 610–631.
Brasil-NetoJ. P.CohenL. G.Pascual-LeoneA.JabirF. K.WallR. T.HallettM. (1992) Rapid reversible modulation of human motor outputs after transient deafferentation of the forearm: a study with transcranial magnetic stimulation. Neurology, 42, 1302–1306.
4.
BrockS.MerwarthH. (1957) The illusory awareness of body parts in cerebral disease. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 77, 366–375.
CanaveroS.BonicalziV.CastellanoG.PerozzoP.Massa-MiconB. (1999) Painful supernumerary phantom arm following motor cortex stimulation for central poststroke pain. Journal of Neurosurgery, 91, 121–123.
8.
ConomyJ. P. (1973) Disorders of body image after spinal cord injury. Neurology, 23, 842–950.
9.
CritchleyM. (1953) The parietal lobes. New York: Hafner.
10.
DavisA. (1975) Pain and suffering after spinal cord injury. Clinical Orthopaedics, 112, 76–80.
11.
DonnetA.SchmittA.PoncetM.GrazianiN.GrisoliF. (1997) Hallucinations de membres surnuméraires, héminégligence gauche et hypersexualité dans un cas d'hématome capsulo-lenticulaire droit. Revue Neurologique, 153, 587–590.
12.
EhrenwaldH. (1930) Verändertes Erleben des Körperbildes mit konsekutiver Wahnbildung bei linksseitiger Hemiplegie. Monatsschrift für Psychiatrie and Neurologie, 75, 89–97.
13.
EttlinT.SeilerW.KaeserH. E. (1980) Phantom and amputation illusions in paraplegic patients. European Neurology, 19, 12–19.
14.
FischerR. (1975) Raumfahrt der Seele. Erlebnisse im Umkreis der Mentalprojektion. Freiburg i. Br., Ger.: Bauer.
15.
GerstmannJ. (1942) Problems of imperception of disease and of impaired body territories with organic lesions: relation to body schema and its disorders. Archiues of Neurology and Psychiatry, 48, 890–913.
16.
GrossY.MelzackR. (1978) Dissociation of real and perceived limbs by pressure-cuff ischemia. Experimental Neurology, 61, 680–688.
17.
GrossiD.Di CesareG.TamburroR. P. (2002) On the syndrome of the “spare limb”: one case. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 94, 476–478.
18.
HalliganP. W.MarshallJ. C. (1995) Supernumerary phantom limb after right hemisphere stroke. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 59, 341–342.
19.
HalliganP. W.MarshallJ. C.WadeD. T. (1993) Three arms: a case study of supernumerary phantom limb after right hemisphere stroke. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 56, 159–166.
20.
HariR.HänninenR.MäkinenT.JousmäkiV.ForssN.SeppäM.SalonenO. (1998) Three hands: fragmentation of human bodily awareness. Neuroscience Letters, 240, 131–134.
21.
HécaenH.de AjuriaguerraJ. (1952) Méconnaissances et hallucinations corporelles. Paris: Masson.
22.
IrjkiA.TanakaM.IwamuraY. (1996) Coding of modified body schema during tool use by macaque postcentral neurones. NeuroReport, 7, 2325–2330.
23.
JalavistoE. (1950) Adaptation in the phantom limb phenomenon as influenced by the age of the amputees. Journal of Gerontology, 5, 339–342.
24.
JonesL. A. (1988) Motor illusions: what do they reveal about proprioception?Psychological Bulletin, 103, 7286.
25.
LacknerJ. R. (1988) Some proprioceptive influences on the perceptual representation of body shape and orientation. Brain, 111, 281–297.
26.
Le ChapelainL.BeisJ-M.PaysantJ.AndréJ-M. (2001) Vestibular caloric stimulation evokes phantom limb illusions in patients with paraplegia. Spinal Cord, 39, 85–87.
27.
LemS. (1981) Summa technologiae. Frankfurt a.M., Ger.: Suhrkamp.
28.
Mayer-GrossW. (1929) Ein Fall von Phantomarm nach Plexuszerreissung. Nervenarzt, 2, 65–72.
29.
MayeuxR.BensonD. F. (1979) Phantom limb and multiple sclerosis. Neurology, 29, 724–726.
30.
McGonigleD. J.HänninenR.SaleniusS.HariR.FrackowiakR. S. J.FrithC. D. (2002) Whose arm is it anyway? An fMRI case study of supernumerary phantom limb. Brain, 125, 1265–1274.
31.
MelzackR.BromageP. R. (1973) Experimental phantom limbs. Experimental Neurology, 39, 261–269.
32.
MikoreyM. (1952) Phantome und Doppelgänger. München: Lehmann.
33.
MonroeR. A. (1971) Journeys out of the body. New York: Doubleday.
34.
MooreC. I.SternC. E.DunbarC.KostyrS. K.GehiA.CorkinS. (2000) Referred phantom sensations and cortical reorganization after spinal cord injury in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 97, 14703–14708.
ParkerS.SchilderP. (1930) Das Körperschema im Lift. Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatric, 128, 777–783.
37.
ParsonsL. M. (1987) Imagined spatial transformation of one's body. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 116, 172–191.
38.
PavaniF.SpenceC.DriverJ. (2000) Visual capture of touch: out-of-the-body experiences with rubber gloves. Psychological Science, 11, 353–359.
39.
PinéasH. (1932) Ein Fall von phantomähnlichen Erscheinungen (“Phantomarm”) bei hemiplegischer Lähmung. Nervenarzt, 5, 233–236.
40.
RamachandranV. S. (1995) Anosognosia in parietal lobe syndrome. Consciousness and Cognition, 4, 22–51.
41.
RamachandranV. S.HirsteinW. (1997) Three laws of qualia. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4, 429–457.
42.
RamachandranV. S.StewartM.Rogers-RamachandranD. C. (1992) Perceptual correlates of massive cortical reorganization. NeuroReport, 3, 583–586.
43.
ReichertK.SewekowK. (2002) Der Mann mit den drei Armen: Phantomgliederleben bei einem intramedullären Ependymom. Nervenarzt, 73, 548–551.
44.
RiddochG. (1941) Phantom limbs and body shape. Brain, 64, 197–222.
45.
RogersM. J. C.FranzenM. D. (1992) Delusional reduplication following closed-head injury. Brain Injury, 6, 469–476.
46.
RothN. (1944) Unusual types of anosognosia and their relation to the body image. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 100, 35–43.
47.
SellalF.Renaseau-LeclercC.LabrecqueR. (1996) L'homme à six bras. Un examen de membres fantômes surnuméraires après ramollissement sylvien droit. Revue Neurologique, 152, 190–195.
48.
SiddallP. J.McClellandJ. (1999) Non-painful sensory phenomenona after spinal cord injury. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 66, 617–622.
49.
ToddJ.DewhurstK. (1955) The double: its psychopathology and psycho-physiology. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 122, 47–55.
50.
VuilleumierP. (2000) Anosognosia. In BogousslavskyJ.CummingsJ. L. (Eds.), Behavior and mood disorders in focal brain lesions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer. Press. Pp. 465–519.
51.
VuilleumierP.ReverdinA.LandisT. (1997) Four legs: illusory reduplication of the lower limbs after bilateral parietal damage. Archives of Neurology, 54, 1543–1547.
52.
WeinsteinE. A.KahnR. L.MalitzS.RozanskiJ. (1954) Delusional reduplication of parts of the body. Brain, 77, 45–60.
53.
WeinsteinE. A.MalitzS.BarkerW. J. (1954) Denial of the loss of a limb. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 120, 27–30.
54.
WorthingtonA.BeeversL. (1996) Two arms, three hands: a supernumerary phantom phenomenon after right middle cerebral artery stroke. Neurocase, 2, 135–140.
55.
ZacksJ.RypmaB.GabrieliJ.TverskyB.GloverG. (1999) Imagined transformation of bodies: an fMRI study. Neuropsychologia, 37, 1029–1040.
56.
ZuckermannM.HopkinsT. R. (1966) Hallucinations or dreams? A study of arousal levels and reported visual sensations during sensory deprivation. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 22, 447–459.
