HNS46, HNS47 Higher Cortical Function I and II Flashcards

1
Q

***Development of vertebrate brain

A

3 Primary Vesicles —> 5 Secondary Vesicles

Prosencephalon (forebrain)
—> Telencephalon —> Cerebral hemisphere (+ Lateral ventricle)
—> Diencephalon —> Thalamus (+ 3rd ventricle)

Mesencephalon (midbrain) —> Mesencephalon —> Midbrain (+ Aqueduct)

Rhombencephalon (hindbrain)
—> Metencephalon —> Pons + Cerebellum (+ Upper 4th ventricle)
—> Myelencephalon —> Medulla (+ Lower 4th ventricle)

記:
Pros —> Mes —> Rhomb
Tel —> Di —> Mes —> Met —> Myel
Cerebral hemisphere —> Thalamus —> Midbrain —> Pons + Cerebellum —> Medulla

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2
Q

Cerebral cortex

A

Evolutionarily newest part of Cerebral cortex —> “Neo” cortex

Controls nearly all aspects of behaviour, including perception, language, decision making

6 layers (usually no neurons in 1st layer)

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3
Q

Coronal section of cerebrum

A
  1. Caudate nucleus
  2. Putamen
  3. Globus pallidus
  4. Lateral ventricle
  5. Cingulate gyrus
  6. Amygdala
  7. Insula
  8. Operculum
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4
Q

4 Lobes of Cerebral hemisphere

A
  1. Frontal lobe
    - Prefrontal cortex
    - Premotor cortex
    - Primary motor cortex
  2. Parietal lobe
    - Primary somatosensory cortex
    - Sensory association area
  3. Temporal lobe
    - Primary auditory cortex
    - Auditory association cortex
  4. Occipital lobe
    - Primary visual cortex
    - Visual association area

Divided by 3 sulci:

  1. Central sulcus
  2. Lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure)
  3. Parietal-occipital sulcus
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5
Q

Functions of cerebral lobes

A
  1. Frontal lobe
    - emotions, personality, social control, speaking
    - executive functions e.g. planning, attention, decision making (PFC)
    - control of movement (Premotor cortex + Primary motor)
    - speech (Broca’s area)
  2. Parietal lobe
    - anterior part: somatosensory function (Primary somatosensory cortex)
    - interpretation of shape / textures
    - understanding speech and formulating words (Wernicke’s area)
  3. Temporal lobe
    - Hearing (Auditory cortex)
    - storage of auditory experience
    - memory storage —> ∵ Hippocampus wrapped inside temporal lobe
  4. Occipital lobe
    - visual information processing
    - correlate visual images from previous visual experience
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6
Q

Gyrus vs Sulcus

A

Gyrus: Ridge on cerebral cortex
Sulcus: Depression / Groove in cerebral cortex

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7
Q

***Neurons in cerebral cortex

A

Most abundant type: ***Excitatory pyramidal neurons (cell body: pyramidal shape)
Other excitatory: Stellate neurons
Inhibitory: Interneurons

Pyramidal neurons:

  • ***Spiny neurons (projections from dendrite —> dendritic spine —> postsynaptic membrane of excitatory synapse)
  • Apical + Basal dendrites
  • ***Excitatory (Glutamatergic)
  • Glutamate, Aspartate
  • ***Homogeneous morphology
  • 70-80%

Interneurons:

  • ***Non-spiny
  • ***Inhibitory (GABAergic)
  • GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid)
  • ***Heterogeneous morphology
  • 20-30%
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8
Q

Laminar organisation of cerebral cortex (6 layers)

A
  • Composed of Glial cells + Neurons
  • Gray matter
  • Different inputs / outputs of different layers (e.g. Thalamic input: layer 4, output to Thalamus: layer 6)
    —> Different functional units
  • 6 layer (based on morphology) (X rmb):
    1. Molecular / Plexiform
    2. External (Outer) granular
    3. External pyramidal
    4. Internal (Inner) granular
    5. Internal pyramidal
    6. Multiform (Polymorphic)
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9
Q

Brodmann’s areas

A

Based on histology —> 52 regions

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10
Q

Columnar organisation of cerebral cortex

A

Columnar function organisation —> a “column” of cells with:

  1. ***Similar response properties
  2. Overlapping / Nearly ***identical receptive field

Example:

  1. Visual cortex
    - Ocular dominance columns (Binocular vision / Depth perception)
    - Orientation columns (detect Orientation)
  2. Auditory cortex
    - Binaural bands
    - Iso-frequency bands
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11
Q

Thalamocortical projections / relationships

A

Example:

  • Anterior nucleus (from hippocampus / mammillary bodies) —> ***Cingulate gyrus
  • Medial dorsal nucleus (from amygdala / olfactory bulb) —> **Prefrontal cortex + **Limbic system
  • VPL (from Spinothalamic tract / Dorsal column-Medial lemniscus tract) —> Primary somatosensory cortex (Postcentral gyrus)
  • Lateral Geniculate nucleus (from retina) —> Primary visual cortex
  • Medial Geniculate nucleus (from cochlea) —> Primary auditory cortex
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12
Q

4 ***Functional categories of cerebral cortex

A
  1. Primary motor
  2. Primary sensory
    - Primary sensory areas (***except olfactory) receive thalamocortical fibres from diencephalic (Thalamus) relay nuclei related to their functional modality
  3. Unimodal association cortex (Secondary)
    - Premotor area / Supplementary motor cortex: preparation, organising, planning sequence of movement
  4. Multimodal association cortex (Tertiary)
    - **Temporal association cortex
    - **
    Parahippocampal cortex
    - ***Cingulate cortex
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13
Q

Unimodal association area / Multimodal association area

A

Unimodal association area:

  • ***Adjacent to primary cortex
  • Devoted to ***higher level of information processing
Multimodal association area:
- Receive information from several ***different sensory modalities
—> production of a ***unified perception
—> representation of perception in ***memory
—> ***cognitive functions:
1. Use of language
2. Future planning
3. Imagine and create
4. Appreciation of space etc.
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14
Q

Motor areas - Control voluntary movement

A
  1. Primary motor cortex (Area 4)
  2. Premotor cortex (Area 6)
  3. Frontal eye field (Area 8) (visual attention, voluntary saccade, pursuit eye movement)
  4. Broca’s area (Area 44, 45) (language)
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15
Q

Primary motor cortex

A
  • Location: Precentral gyrus
  • Conscious control of precise, skilled, voluntary movements (on opposite side of body)
  • Represented in orderly manner in cortex
  • Body mapped upside down (Lateral: Face + Upper limb; Medial: Lower limb)
  • Body regions with greatest number of motor innervation —> Largest areas of motor cortex (e.g. face, fingers)
  • Disproportionate representation of body on primary motor cortex
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16
Q

Voluntary movement

A
  • Mediated by direct connections
    —> Cortex —> Internal capsule —> Spinal cord —> Corticospinal tract
  • Continuous stream of tactile, visual, proprioceptive information needed
    —> from **Basal ganglia, **Cerebellum
    —> Accurate + Properly sequenced voluntary movement
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17
Q

Sensory areas - Conscious awareness of sensation

A
  1. Primary somatosensory cortex (Area 1, 2, 3)
  2. Visual cortex (Area 17)
  3. Auditory cortex (Area 41, 42)
  4. Vestibular cortex
  5. Gustatory cortex (Area 43)
  6. Olfactory cortex
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18
Q

Primary somatosensory cortex

A
  • Location: Postcentral gyrus
  • Receives information from skin + skeletal muscle —> VPL, VPM of Thalamus
  • Body regions with highest densities of receptors —> Largest areas of sensory cortex
  • ***Exhibits spatial discrimination
    —> column receive inputs from same body area with a specific sensory submodality (rapidly adapting (e.g. vibration) / slowly adapting (mechanoceptive))
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19
Q

Homunculi of human body

A

Disproportionate number of neurons of body on Somatosensory + Motor cortex
—> Disproportionate representation of body
—> Magnification of hands, lips, tongues

20
Q

Primary visual cortex + pathways

A

Image of entire visual field —> Upside-down + Laterally reversed on retina
- ***Retinotopic (pattern recognition + feature extraction)

Visual pathway:
Photoreceptor cells —> Bipolar cells —> Retinal ganglion cells
—> Optic nerve —> Optic chiasm —> Optic tract
—> LGN of Thalamus
—> Optical radiation
—> Visual cortex

***Rmb:
左右
- Nasal / Medial visual field —> Optic chiasm —> Contralateral Lateral Geniculate nucleus —> Contralateral visual cortex
- Temporal / Lateral visual field —> Ipsilateral Lateral Geniculate nucleus —> Ipsilateral visual cortex
(Left visual field —> Right visual cortex)

上下
- Upper visual field —> Lower retina field —> **Lateral LGN —> **Temporal / Inferior optic radiation —> Inferior visual cortex
- Lower visual field —> Upper retina field —> **Medial LGN —> **Parietal / Superior optic radiation —> Superior visual cortex
(Visual cortex divided into Superior / Inferior by Calcarine fissure)

正中 (Macula)
- Central visual field —> Central retina field —> **Central LGN (both sides) —> **Caudal visual cortex

21
Q

Optical radiation

A

Divided according to location of fibres:
1. Temporal optic radiation (Meyer’s loop)
- process ***Superior visual field
—> Inferior visual cortex

  1. Parietal optic radiation (Superior trajectory)
    - process ***inferior visual field
    —> Superior visual cortex
22
Q

6 layers of LGN

A

6 layers of LGN —> Different types of cells —> Different columns of visual cortex
—> Facilitate Ocular dominance columns

23
Q

***Typical visual field defects + corresponding lesion site

A
  1. Optic nerve lesion (e.g. optic neuritis) —> Monoacular amaurosis (得一邊視力)
  2. ***Optic chiasma lesion (e.g. pituitary macroadenoma) —> Bitemporal hemianopia (失去左右外側視力)
  3. Optic tract lesion (e.g. cranial-pharyngioma) —> Homonymous hemianopia (失去right / left visual field)
  4. Temporal optic radiation lesion (e.g. post-temporal lobectomy) —> Homonymous upper quadrantic hemianopia (失去right / left upper visual field)
  5. Parietal optic radiation lesion (e.g. parietal glioma) —> Homonymous lower quadrantic hemianopia (失去right / left lower visual field)
  6. Visual cortical lesion (e.g. occipital lobe infarct) —> Dense Homonymous hemianopia with macular sparing (Similar to optic tract lesion but spared macular image) (得一邊視力但macular image spared)
24
Q

Primary auditory cortex + pathway

A
  • Area 41, 42 (deep in lateral sulcus)
  • ***Tonotopic map (maintained throughout pathway to cortex i.e. all nuclei are tonotopically organised)
  • Cochlear projections: ***Bilateral
Pathway
Cochlea
—> Cochlea nerve
—> ***Spiral ganglion
—> ***Cochlea nucleus
—> ***Superior olivary nucleus
—> ***Lateral lemniscus
—> ***Inferior colliculus (brainstem)
—> ***MGB (Thalamus)
—> Primary auditory cortex
25
Q

Vestibular cortex

A
Vestibular nuclei (Superior, Inferior, Lateral, Medial)
—> Vestibular information processed in different parts of cortex (∵ massive balancing information to process)
—> Subjective orientation + Integration of somatosensory + Labyrinth information

(X rmb

  1. Premotor cortex FEF
  2. Posterior Insula + Temporoparietal cortex (PIVC)
  3. Posterior parietal cortex)
26
Q

Gustatory cortex + pathway

A
  • Area 43
  • deep within Insula + Frontal Operculum

Taste buds (from anterior 2/3 tongue, posterior 1/3 tongue, epiglottis)
—> CN7, CN9, CN10
—> **Geniculate ganglion + **Inferior Glossopharyngeal ganglion
—> ***Solitary nucleus (Medulla)
—> Central tegmental tract
—> Thalamus
—> Gustatory cortex

27
Q

Olfactory cortex + pathway

A

Olfactory mucosa
—> Olfactory bulb
—> Olfactory cortex (different parts of cortex e.g. Anterior olfactory nucleus, Olfactory tubercle etc.
—> Hypothalamus / Amygdala / Hippocampus etc. (feeding behaviour, odour discrimination, identification)

28
Q

***Association areas

A
  • Areas not involved in primary sensory / motor function
  • ***Higher cognitive function (e.g. learning, memory)
  • ***Integrate diverse information
  • Increase size of association cortex —> complexity of behaviour + mental functions
  1. Parietal association cortex
    - **sensory guidance of motor behaviour (Visually-guided grasping)
    - **
    spatial awareness
    - ***selective attention
  2. Temporal association cortex
    - **recognition of sensory stimuli
    - storage of **
    semantic (factual) knowledge
  3. Frontal (prefrontal) association cortex
    - organising behaviour
    - **working memory
    - **
    personality
  4. Limbic association cortex (anterior ventral portion of temporal lobe)
    - **emotion and **episodic (autobiographical) memory
29
Q

Example: Sensory information processing

A

一路散出去:
Primary sensory area

—> Unimodal association areas

  • Primary motor cortex + Sensory association area
  • then —> Premotor cortex + Higher-order somatosensory association area

—> completed in Multimodal association areas (information from different sensory systems converges in multiple areas)

  • ***Temporal association cortex
  • ***Parahippocampal cortex
  • ***Cingulate cortex
30
Q

Example: Visual information processing

A

2 major parallel pathways terminate in different higher order areas of cortex

Ventral pathway (Form information):
- colour, shape, texture
—> Temporal association cortex

Dorsal pathway (Spatial information):
- position, motion, speed
—> Parietal association cortex

31
Q

***Prefrontal cortex (PFC)

A

Functions:

  1. Higher ***cognitive function, planning
  2. ***Personality expression
  3. ***Decision making, working memory
  4. ***Social behaviour

Definition:

  • Projection zone of ***Mediodorsal (MD) nucleus (Thalamus)
  • Part of frontal cortex in which electrical stimulation does **NOT evoke movements (i.e. only part of frontal cortex **not related to motor)

Highly interconnected with other cortical, subcortical area, brainstem

Dysfunction / Abnormality —> Psychiatry disorders e.g. Depression, Schizophrenia

32
Q

Lateralisation of cortical functions

A

Corpus callosotomy:
Surgical procedure for epilepsy —> remove corpus callosum (critical to inter-hemispheric spread of epileptic activity)

Demonstrated by Split brain experiment

33
Q

Cerebral dominance: Language (左腦)

A

Speech area normally located in ***Left hemisphere

Wernicke’s area (Area 22):

  • Sensory / Receptive speech
  • ***Comprehension of written and spoken language + Formation of coherent speech

Broca’s area (Area 44, 45):

  • Motor / Expressive speech
  • ***Motor programs of speech + writing

See a word on screen
—> Visual cortex
—> Wernicke’s area (information concerning the word is interpreted)
—> ***Arcuate fasciculus
—> Broca’s area
—> Primary motor area (speak out the word)

34
Q

***Aphasia

A

Absent / Defective speech or language comprehension

  1. Wernicke (Receptive) aphasia (諗唔到但係咁講野)
    - unable to name objects
    - unable to understand meaning of words
    - articulate speech readily, but usually nonsensically
  2. Broca (Expressive) aphasia (諗到講唔到)
    - seldom speak spontaneously
    - understand language perfectly
    - maybe able to write perfectly
  3. Global aphasia
    - larger lesions in central region around lateral sulcus (initial stages of large left middle cerebral artery injuries)
    - almost total reduction of ALL aspects of spoken + written language
  4. Conduction aphasia
    - interruption of Arcuate fasciculus
    - comprehension is normal, expression is fluent
    - difficulty translating what someone said to him into appropriate reply
35
Q

Cerebral dominance: Space + Attention (右腦)

A

**Right parietal association cortex:
- most highly lateralised
—> **
Spatial relationships
—> Related selective attention
—> Sensory guidance of motor behaviour (
Visually-guided grasping)

Damage to right parietal association cortex (non-dominant cortex):
***Contralateral neglect
- Deficit in attention
- Deficit in spatial surrounding
—> Deficit in self-image on left side of body / deficit in perceiving world on left side

E.g. NOT wash / dress left side of body - Personal neglect syndrome

36
Q

***Apraxia: Constructional Apraxia (not related to cerebral dominance)

A

(記: **Motor planning + **Spatial relationship + ***Sensory guidance of motor behaviour (Visually-guided grasping))

Apraxia: Disorder of motor planning

Constructional Apraxia:
—> NOT related to visual acuity / fine motor control
—> Difficulty with ***motor planning to perform tasks / movements

  • Damage of **Parietal association cortex, **Premotor cortex, ***Supplementary motor cortex
  • Inability to internalise + duplicate ***Spatial relationships of the individuals parts of the model
37
Q

***Agnosia (not related to cerebral dominance)

A
  • Inability to ***process sensory information
  • “Not knowing”
  • Describe a large group of higher level disorders of sensory ***perception even though afferent sensory pathways are normal

Example:

  1. Tactile agnosia (unable to recognise objects through touch)
  2. Prosopagnosia (inability to recognise familiar faces / learn new faces)
  3. Visual appreciative agnosia (inability to see object parts as a whole —> unable to construct sensory representations of visual stimuli even though can name them 明白但不能照抄)
  4. Visual associative agnosia (can create sensory representation normally but cannot associate with meaning能夠照抄但不明白意思)
38
Q

***Ataxia (not related to cerebral dominance)

A

Lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements
—> **gait abnormality, **speech changes, abnormalities in ***eye movements

Optic ataxia:

  • Damage to ***Dorsomedial Parietal cortex
  • Difficulty with ***visually guided grasping / reaching
    e. g. Fail to shape their hand, orientate the hand / wrong location to grasp an object
39
Q

Dementia

A
  • Impaired **Cognitive function in **multiple domains but preserved consciousness
    —> Deterioration of memory, intellect, concentration, comprehension, specific cortical functions (aphasia, agnosia, acalculia, visual-spatial disturbance)
  • Other features (***Motor):
    —> abnormal movements, seizures, pyramidal / extrapyramidal signs, cerebellar ataxia, gait disturbance, primitive reflexes
Screening test:
Mini-mental state examination —> test higher mental function examination:
1. Memory
2. Language
3. Visual-spatial orientation
4. Mathematical skills
5. Problem-solving ability
6. Personal / Social conduct
Causes:
1. ***Neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s)
2. ***Vascular dementia (e.g. infarct)
3. Metabolic disorder
Etc.
40
Q

***Alzheimer’s disease

A
  • Most common form of dementia
  • Familial (5-10%): Mutation of **amyloid precursor protein (APP), **presenilin 1 (PS1), ***presenilin 2 (PS2)
  • Sporadic (90%)
  • Chronic and progressive loss of neurons / synapses in cerebral cortex + subcortical regions (e.g. Hippocampus)
    —> Memory loss, Deficits of cognitive function, Mood disorder
  • Neuropathology hallmarks
    1. Extracellular deposition of **amyloid plaques, composed of **β-amyloid
    2. Intracellular **neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), composed of **Tau: aggregates of highly phosphorylated microtubule-binding protein
    3. Significant decrease in ***ACh transferase (synthesis of ACh) and loss of cholinergic neurons
  • Disease progression:
    Medial temporal lobe (Poor memory)
    —> Lateral temporal + Parietal lobe (Poor recognition)
    —> Frontal lobe (Poor judgement, Short attention)
    —> Occipital lobe (Visual problem)
41
Q

Functional imaging of cognition

A

Energy metabolism of neurons —> influenced by changes in synaptic activity / synaptic strength

Shifts in metabolism are associated with local:

  1. ↑ Cerebral blood flow
  2. ↑ Cerebral blood volume
  3. ↑ Glucose uptake
  4. ↓ Deoxyhaemoglobin content

Detected by different techniques e.g fMRI, PET

42
Q

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

A

Detects pairs of **Gamma rays
- emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting **
radionuclide (tracer) introduced into body on a biologically active molecule (e.g. glucose, oxygen-15, glutamate, GABA)

Example:

  • Measures flow of blood to different parts of brain by ***oxygen-15
  • PET scanning with tracer fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG): FDG-PET

Advantages:

  • Has ***specific targets (e.g. glucose)
  • ***Fast temporal resolution

Disadvantage:

  • Poor spatial resolution
  • Radioactive
43
Q

Functional Magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

A
  • Measures brain activity by detecting changes in ***blood-oxygen level / blood flow
  • Primary form: Blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast

Advantages:

  • Not require to undergo shots, surgery, ingestion
  • No radiation
  • ***Better spatial resolution compared to PET

Disadvantages:

  • Tiny movement can obscure and ruin fMRI data (do not affected PET)
  • Poor temporal resolution
  • No metal implants in body
44
Q

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

A
  • Non-invasive method to monitor electrical activity of brain
  • Measure ***Electrical potential difference (result of summation of postsynaptic potentials from pyramidal neurons in cortex)
  • Multiple electrodes on scalp
  • Indication: Diagnose **epilepsy, coma, brain death, monitor **sleep stages
    (Epilepsy: Chronic disorder involving an abnormality of electric activity of brain with/without apparent changes in nervous tissues)

Principle:
- **Local currents produced when neurons activated
—> currents flow through dendrites of many pyramidal neurons in cerebral cortex
—> generate potential differences
—> create **
dipoles between soma and apical dendrites
—> ***summation of many neuronal activity
—> EEG

45
Q

EEG patterns

A

Different frequency and different amplitude
—> Different waveforms
—> Alpha (8-13Hz), Beta (>13Hz), Theta (4-7Hz), Delta (<4Hz)

Alpha:

  • person is **awake, **relaxed state of wakefulness
  • eyes closed
  • relatively regular, rhythmic, low-amplitude, synchronous waves

Beta:

  • person is **awake, **alert
  • produced by visual stimuli, mental activity
  • rhythmic but less regular than alpha waves and with higher frequency

Theta:

  • ***irregular
  • common in children
  • uncommon in awake adults but may appear when concentrating and under emotional stress
  • occur in many ***disorders of brain

Delta:

  • common during ***sleep and awake infant
  • in awake adults —> indicate ***brain damage
  • ***high-amplitude waves
46
Q

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

A
  • Mixture of EEG and MRI
  • Non-invasive method
  • Multiple neurons excited together in a specific area
    —> ***Electromagnetic fields generated by net effect of slow ionic current flow in neurons

Advantages (compare to fMRI):

  1. NO operational noise
  2. Better temporal resolution (with sub-msec precision)
  3. Subject can move their heads within MEG helmet

Disadvantage:

  1. Require magnetically shielded room
  2. MEG scanners require superconducting sensors (***SQUID: superconducting quantum interference device)
47
Q

Neuroplasticity

A
  • Remodelling of CNS
  • Changes in neural pathway —> change in behaviour / sensation
  • Plasticity greatest in developing brain
  • Also observed in adults:
  1. For learning and memory
  2. After injury —> Phantom limb sensation
    - spread of connections from surrounding cortical areas into region that had the amputated limb
    —> re-organisation of synaptic networks
    —> Cortical remapping of referred sensations in response to amputation / injury (e.g. stroke)