Word: touchingly
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...happening? The brain carries within it a mental map of the body, a well-formed sense of where every part is in relation to every other. That's why it's possible for you to extend your arm and then, with your eyes closed, bring it in to touch the tip of your nose. (Drunkenness distorts your perception of the map; thus the nose-touching sobriety test often administered by cops...
...brain also attempts to make up for the deficit physically, perhaps, suggests Ramachandran, by sprouting new sets of connections. Because neurons that process information from the arm are near those that handle the face, for example, these new connections can cause a blindfolded patient to think a gentle touch on the face is really a touch on a missing fingertip. Says Ramachandran: "Reorganization can occur in a period of weeks...
WORDS, SPOKEN AND OTHERWISE The exquisite specialization of neurons for processing very precise sorts of information -- moving but not still objects, the sensation of touch on a finger that isn't there anymore -- is perhaps at its most highly refined when it comes to language. As a result, brain-damaged patients can exhibit an astounding range of language problems. Some have trouble using and understanding just nouns. Others have trouble with verbs. Some patients can't produce language but comprehend it perfectly; others can speak normally but can't make any sense out of what they hear...
...threatened to withhold funds needed to open a U.S. embassy in Hanoi -- an option that Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole is also weighing. Rep. Bob Dornan (R-Calif.), a Republican presidential candidate, delivered a characteristically vituperative half-hour speech. "Clinton does not have the moral standing to touch this issue," Dornan said. "The war criminals are still in power in Hanoi...
...challenges in a dozen states, mostly in the South. Already the court has agreed to hear related cases from Texas and North Carolina. Civil rights activists and black lawmakers are promising to fight back. "We're not going to stand back and let five people who are out of touch with reality determine our future," promised New Jersey Representative Donald Payne, chairman of a 40-member Congressional Black Caucus that could soon be much smaller. "We're going to initiate massive voter-registration drives and voter-education sessions...