full transcript

From the Ted Talk by VS Ramachandran: 3 clues to understanding your brain

Unscramble the Blue Letters


OK, now the next question is, what can you learn about phantom limbs by doing experiments? One of the things we've found was, about half the pentaits with phantom limbs claim that they can move the phantom. It'll pat his brother on the shoulder, it'll answer the phone when it rgnis, it'll wave goodbye. These are very compelling, vivid sensations. The patient's not delusional. He knows that the arm is not there, but, nevertheless, it's a compelling srseony eieerncxpe for the patient. But however, about half the patients, this doesn't happen. The phantom limb — they'll say, "But doctor, the phantom limb is peyarzlad. It's fxied in a clenched saspm and it's excruciatingly painful. If only I could move it, maybe the pain will be relieved."

Open Cloze


OK, now the next question is, what can you learn about phantom limbs by doing experiments? One of the things we've found was, about half the ________ with phantom limbs claim that they can move the phantom. It'll pat his brother on the shoulder, it'll answer the phone when it _____, it'll wave goodbye. These are very compelling, vivid sensations. The patient's not delusional. He knows that the arm is not there, but, nevertheless, it's a compelling _______ __________ for the patient. But however, about half the patients, this doesn't happen. The phantom limb — they'll say, "But doctor, the phantom limb is _________. It's _____ in a clenched _____ and it's excruciatingly painful. If only I could move it, maybe the pain will be relieved."

Solution


  1. fixed
  2. patients
  3. spasm
  4. rings
  5. experience
  6. sensory
  7. paralyzed

Original Text


OK, now the next question is, what can you learn about phantom limbs by doing experiments? One of the things we've found was, about half the patients with phantom limbs claim that they can move the phantom. It'll pat his brother on the shoulder, it'll answer the phone when it rings, it'll wave goodbye. These are very compelling, vivid sensations. The patient's not delusional. He knows that the arm is not there, but, nevertheless, it's a compelling sensory experience for the patient. But however, about half the patients, this doesn't happen. The phantom limb — they'll say, "But doctor, the phantom limb is paralyzed. It's fixed in a clenched spasm and it's excruciatingly painful. If only I could move it, maybe the pain will be relieved."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
phantom limb 6
fusiform gyrus 4
visual areas 4
phantom arm 4
structure called 3
galvanic skin 3
paralyzed phantom 3
cross wiring 3
human brain 2
small region 2
syndrome called 2
face area 2
woman pretending 2
standard freudian 2
freudian view 2
latent sexual 2
sexual urges 2
sexually aroused 2
message cascades 2
emotional core 2
autonomic nervous 2
nervous system 2
start sweating 2
normal people 2
skin response 2
phantom limbs 2
sensory experience 2
visual feedback 2
learned paralysis 2
mirror box 2
normal hand 2
called synesthesia 2
martian alphabet 2
hair cells 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
standard freudian view 2
latent sexual urges 2
autonomic nervous system 2
galvanic skin response 2

Important Words


  1. answer
  2. arm
  3. brother
  4. claim
  5. clenched
  6. compelling
  7. delusional
  8. doctor
  9. excruciatingly
  10. experience
  11. experiments
  12. fixed
  13. goodbye
  14. happen
  15. learn
  16. limb
  17. limbs
  18. move
  19. pain
  20. painful
  21. paralyzed
  22. pat
  23. patient
  24. patients
  25. phantom
  26. phone
  27. question
  28. relieved
  29. rings
  30. sensations
  31. sensory
  32. shoulder
  33. spasm
  34. vivid
  35. wave