In the mid-90s, Ramachandran approached the question from a more holistic perspective. The brain, we now know, contains a sensory map of the body and when the body fails to send sensory data that fits the map all manner of problems can occur. Ramachandran suspected that memories of the signals sent out by a limb before amputation remain locked in the central nervous system and the brain.
In an era of highly advanced and expensive brain scanning equipment, much of Ramachandran's work is characterised by a low-tech approach that he attributes to his Indian education. Thus, he devised a simple experiment with a mirror in which, through a visual trick, the amputee gained the impression that he was able to move his non-existent limb. His trial patient reported a shrinking of the phantom limb and diminution in pain. Ramachandran noted that it was "the first example in medical history of a successful 'amputation' of a phantom limb".
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