부산대학교 도서관

The brain organizes somatosensory experience based on the body location from which it originated and the pathway by which in arrived. Here, I present a classroom discussion-based activity centered around the concept of a phantom limb to allow students to explore how cortical representation of sensory experience can be altered. The goal of the activity is to allow students to explore concepts surrounding plasticity of cortical representation. The mouse barrel cortex, a common model system for studying these effects, will be presented to explore potential mechanisms of the change. Finally, the students will hypothesis how the mirror box therapy can be used to ameliorate phantom limb pain without the use of pharmacological treatment. The activity is designed for second- or third-year biology or physiology majors and can be conducted in a single class period. Students can work in small groups answering questions before discussing their answers as a class. There are many opportunities to expand the discussion described.