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Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

The somatosensory system is the central and peripheral nervous system component that senses and processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position or proprioception. The process of sensation takes place at three levels:
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...

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.

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at the...

Perception

Perception

Perception is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to organize, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. This process is crucial for understanding and interacting with the world around us. It includes both bottom-up and top-down processing, each playing a distinct role in how we perceive our environment.
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...

Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

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Somatic sensory or somatosensory pathways refer to the neural pathways that carry information related to touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and proprioception from the skin, muscles, tendons, and joints to the brain. These pathways involve several stages of processing and integration of sensory information.
The somatosensory system is divided into three main pathways: the dorsal (or posterior) column-medial lemniscus, spinothalamic (or anterolateral), and spinocerebellar pathways.
The dorsal...

Parallel Processing

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The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...

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Related Experiment Video

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Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

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Published on: April 16, 2014

A double dissociation between somatosensory processing for perception and action.

Helen A Anema¹, Martine J E van Zandvoort, Edward H F de Haan

¹Helmholtz Research Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. h.a.anema@uu.nl

Neuropsychologia

|November 29, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Human neuropsychology indicates separate body representations. New findings in stroke patients with intact touch perception support distinct body image and body schema processing.

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Area of Science:

Neuropsychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Somatosensory Processing

Background:

Human neuropsychology proposes two distinct body representations: body image for conscious perception and body schema for sensorimotor control.
Evidence for this distinction often relies on double dissociations in patients with impaired tactile sensitivity or varied lesion types.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the distinct roles of body image and body schema.
To present a unique double dissociation in stroke patients with preserved basic somatosensory function.

Main Methods:

Studied two stroke patients with intact tactile detection.
Assessed performance in identifying touch location on a hand drawing versus pointing to the actual touch location on the hand.

Main Results:

One patient showed impaired touch localization on a drawing but accurate pointing on their own hand.
The second patient exhibited the reverse pattern: accurate localization on the drawing but impaired pointing on their hand.
Both patients had intact basic somatosensory processing.

Conclusions:

These findings provide strong evidence for separate neural processing of body image and body schema.
The study highlights a unique double dissociation in patients with preserved tactile sensation, furthering our understanding of body representation.