2016/06/13 by Katja M. Guenther · 1 citation
Computer Science · Arts and Humanities · Medicine · #Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts #Visual Culture and Art Theory #Ramachandran plot #Imaging phantom #Computer science #Anatomy #Computer graphics (images) #Medicine #Physics #Nuclear medicine #Nuclear magnetic resonance
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/mdh.2016.27
openalex publication_date 2016/06/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
This article examines the material culture of neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran's research into phantom limbs. In the 1990s Ramachandran used a 'mirror box' to 'resurrect' phantom limbs and thus to treat the pain that often accompanied them. The experimental success of his mirror therapy led Ramachandran to see mirrors as a useful model of brain function, a tendency that explains his attraction to work on 'mirror neurons'. I argue that Ramachandran's fascination with and repeated appeal to the mirror can be explained by the way it allowed him to confront a perennial problem in the mind and brain sciences, that of the relationship between a supposedly immaterial mind and a material brain. By producing what Ramachandran called a 'virtual reality', relating in varied and complex ways to the material world, the mirror reproduced a form of psycho-physical parallelism and dualistic ontology, while conforming to the materialist norms of neuroscience today.