Injuries of peripheral inputs from the body cause sensory dysfunctions that are thought to be
attributable to functional changes in cerebral cortical maps of the body. Prevalent theories
propose that these cortical changes are explained by mechanisms that preeminently
operate within cortex. This paper reviews findings from humans and other primates that point
to a very different explanation, ie that injury triggers an immediately initiated, and
subsequently continuing, progression of mechanisms that alter substrates at multiple …