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The notion of the "I-function" is an intriguing concept, however it still does not summarize completely observations of how the nervous system functions. Thinking about the nervous system in this manner, as a mechanism of input and output boxes sometimes capable of generating outputs without the presence of inputs, and furthermore containing an "I-function" that is responsible for what we are able to recognize as something happening to us, again brings to mind Phantom Limb Syndrome. Here is a situation in which there is no input of pain, yet there are mere "nonsense" responses that are processed in the brain and interpreted as pain in a limb that is no longer present. The patient claims that they feel the pain in that limb, an affirmation of their ability to sense the "self" or in other words the "I-function", even though there is nothing there to feel.

Is this a glitch in the I-function model? Or does the I-function strictly apply to nervous system disorders, and can only explain the loss of feeling of the self when a particular area of the spinal cord is injured? How about patients who undergo amputation and do not experience any form of PLS, rather it is understood that the limb is no longer present and therefore they can not feel anything in that region? Is this also not a loss of the "I-function" without any damage done to the spinal cord resulting in paralysis?