X-Message-Number: 19641
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 14:54:28 -0700
From: James Swayze <>
Subject: Location for sense of self found?

http://wp.netscape.com/inserts/news/8.html

"Oooh!  Why It Feels So Good to Cuddle By Cathryn Conroy, Netscape News Editor
From infancy to old age, we all love to cuddle and snuggle.  It just feels so
good.  Now scientists know why!

It's long been known that we have two nerve networks that carry the feeling of

touch to the brain, but until now we only knew how one of them worked.  That one
is how normal touch is transmitted to the brain.  Someone slaps you.  The
feeling is sent through a network of fast-conducting nerves that are called
myelinated fibers.  But there's a second nerve network of unmyelinated fibers
that moves very s-l-o-w-l-y.  It's also called C-tactile or the CT network for
short.


Swedish researchers examined a woman with a rare disorder--she does not have the
ability to process the sensation of human touch anywhere on her body below her
nose--and determined that the CT network is used for unconscious aspects of
touch because it's so slow. "It seems the CT network conveys emotions, or a
sense of self," Hakan Olausson of the department of clinical neurophysiology at
Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden told New Scientist.  Even though this
woman had no sense of touch, she surprised doctors by reporting a "pleasant

sensation" when her arm was caressed with a paintbrush during an experiment.  In
other words, the CT network still functioned and even though she couldn't FEEL

the touch of the brush, she could feel the emotional sensation of it.  MRI scans
of her brain confirmed the emotional response.  Conclusion?

The CT system might be important for emotional, hormonal and behavioral
responses to tactile stimulation. "

Sense of self in the perpheral nervous system? Hmmmm.

James
--
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A RELIGION I actually recommend:
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A FAVORITE quote: Last lines of the first Star Trek the Next Generation movie.
Capt.  Picard: "What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived,
after all Number One, we're only mortal."
Will Ryker: "Speak for yourself captain, I intend to live forever!"

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