The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat Case Study

In The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, there are two case studies of proprioception. Proprioception is described as our “sixth sense”. As Dr. Oliver Sacks explains, we have five senses but there are other senses that are considered secret-senses or sixth senses which are just as vital as the other senses but go unrecognized. “It is the awareness of the relative position of the trunk and limbs, derived from receptors in the joints and tendons.” For normal people, in normal situations, these secret-senses simply do not exist. We do not experience a lack of proprioception unless we have suffered damage to the brain and/or nerve receptors. The two cases I will discuss are The Disembodied Lady where the woman lost all sense of proprioception …show more content…
In The Disembodied Lady, Christina’s case was a unique case where she lost her entire sense of proprioception. Christine was only twenty-seven years old and lived an active and full life. Christina was to undergo gallbladder surgery and was placed on routine pre-op antibiotics. The day of surgery Christina knew something terrible happened, she felt disembodied. After undergoing multiple tests, it was determined that she was suffering from neuritis unsure if it would ever get better. Dr. Sacks explained to her how the sense of the body is given by three things: vision, balance organs and proprioception which she had lost. In a ordinary case, if one failed the others could compensate, or substitute to a certain extent. Dr. Sacks told Christina about his experience with Mr. MacGregor who used his eyes instead to balance himself. In short, Christina’s body went blind. Eight years passed and there was still no neurological recovery. Christina’s case was an extraordinary example of a perceptual problem in that her life is unmatched. She was the first of her kind to experience being …show more content…
MacGregor’s case study in On the Level. Although I have already discussed Mr. MacGregor’s case, I believe it is important as his case helps to explain perception and analogy as he used analogy to create an alternative solution to his perceptual problem. This case study is very substantial to understanding how the brain works. Mr. MacGregor’s case is unique in that he suffered from Parkinson’s disease which is what caused his “spirit level” to be knocked out and he was able to create a solution for himself and others with an equivalent problem. As Dr. Sacks affirmed, “Mr. MacGregor had hit on a fundamental analogy, a metaphor for an essential control system in the brain.” Mr. MacGregor was able to understood his situation more clearly once he made the comparison between a carpenter’s level and a “spirit