Studying phantom limbs and other illusions to find cures

In an uncertain world, nothing seems as secure as the sense of your own body.

But what we think of as our own bodies is surprisingly unstable and elastic. With a bit of trickery, for instance, most people readily succumb to the illusion that a rubber hand has replaced their own living appendage. When people who have lost an arm or leg view a mirror image of their intact limb, they can feel vivid sensations of touch and movement as if they were coming from the missing body part.