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Somatosensation

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 2, 2026

The Crossmodal Congruency Task as a Means to Obtain an Objective Behavioral Measure in the Rubber Hand Illusion Paradigm

The Crossmodal Congruency Task as a Means to Obtain an Objective Behavioral Measure in the Rubber Hand Illusion Paradigm

Published on: July 26, 2013

Response requirements modulate tactile spatial congruency effects.

Alberto Gallace¹, Salvador Soto-Faraco, Polly Dalton

¹Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, England. alberto.gallace1@unimib.it

Experimental Brain Research

|August 19, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Tactile stimuli remapping depends on task demands. The brain uses abstract spatial frames, but the specific frame utilized shifts based on the task, influencing how we perceive touch.

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Last Updated: Jul 2, 2026

The Crossmodal Congruency Task as a Means to Obtain an Objective Behavioral Measure in the Rubber Hand Illusion Paradigm

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Published on: July 26, 2013

Testing Tactile Masking between the Forearms

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Published on: February 10, 2016

Applying Incongruent Visual-Tactile Stimuli during Object Transfer with Vibro-Tactile Feedback

Applying Incongruent Visual-Tactile Stimuli during Object Transfer with Vibro-Tactile Feedback

Published on: May 23, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Somatosensory research
Cognitive psychology

Background:

Recent studies suggest tactile stimuli are remapped into abstract spatial frames beyond initial somatotopic representations.
The primary somatosensory cortex initially processes tactile information somatotopically.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if tactile remapping depends on task demands.
To determine the extent to which tactile stimuli are remapped into abstract spatial frames based on task requirements.

Main Methods:

Participants responded to vibrotactile targets (elevation or anatomical location) on one hand while ignoring distractors on the other.
Target-distractor congruency effects were measured across different hand postures (palm-up/down).
Experiments utilized footpedal, verbal, and finger-based responses to assess different task demands.

Main Results:

Footpedal responses showed congruency effects based on external stimulus elevation, irrespective of response definition.
Verbal responses showed an attenuated influence of external elevation.
Finger-based responses virtually eliminated congruency effects, indicating task-dependent remapping.

Conclusions:

Tactile events can be remapped into abstract frames of reference through multisensory integration.
The specific frame of reference used is highly dependent on the demands of the performed task.
Task demands critically shape the spatial representation of tactile information.