Inside every human brain lies a detailed map of the body, with different regions dedicated to different body parts: the hands, lips, feet and more. But what happens to this map when a body part is removed?

For decades, scientists believed that, when a body part is amputated, the brain’s body map dramatically reorganises itself, with neighbouring body parts taking over the area once represented by the missing limb.

This idea of large-scale brain reorganisation became a central pillar of adult brain plasticity: the ability of the brain to change its structure and function in response to injuries, new experiences or training.

Our new study, published in Nature Neuroscience, shows the opposite is true: the brain’s body map remains strikingly stable, even years after amputation.