Strangelove syndrome gives hands a life of their own. A fascinating and rare neurological syndrome may shed light on the neural basis of free will. Forty cases of anarchic hand syndrome, nicknamed Strangelove syndrome after the unforgettable struggles of the Peter Sellers character in Kubrick’s 1963 film to control a wayward hand, have been described. Seemingly caused by damage to a frontal region called the supplemental motor area, most sufferers are at war with the affected limb, slapping, scolding or binding it. Although the concept of free will is a dicey one without a precise neurological basis, one way to conceptualize this syndrome is that a secondary, competing center of will takes over control of the hand. Other neurological syndromes result from “neglect”, in which damage to certain brain areas makes patients lose awareness of the fact (“deny”) that a certain part of their body belongs to them, with predictable results. But, in anarchic hand syndrome, in contrast, ‘ “the patients are aware of the bizarre and

potentially hazardous behaviours of their hand

but have great difficulty inhibiting it,” said

Professor Della Salla. “They often refer to the

feeling that one of their hands behaves as if it

has its own will but never deny that this

capricious hand is part of their own body.” ‘ Let me suggest another way to cut this cake. Might anarchic hand syndrome be a particularly dramatic challenge to the mistaken notion, or convenient fiction, we have of thinking that organisms have a unity of purpose in the first place? The Times; BBC Here‘s the result of a Google search on anarchic hand syndrome — not much. [Searching on Strangelove syndrome comes up with more hits, but they have nothing to do with neurology. Kubrick’s film seems to have become an icon for deepseated public fears of unbalanced military professionals and doomsday scenarios.]