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Related Concept Videos

Somatosensation01:33

Somatosensation

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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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Tactile and Chemical Senses01:27

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Tactile senses encompass touch, temperature, and pain, each mediated by specific receptors. Touch receptors detect mechanical energy or pressure against the skin. Sensory fibers from these receptors enter the spinal cord and relay information to the brain stem. Here, most fibers cross over to the opposite side of the brain. The touch information then moves to the thalamus, which projects a map of the body's surface onto the somatosensory areas of the parietal lobes in the cerebral cortex.
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Major Somatic Sensory Pathways01:28

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Sensory impulses related to touch, pressure, vibration, and proprioception from various body parts, such as the limbs, trunk, neck, and posterior head, travel to the cerebral cortex through the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway. The pathway’s name derives from the two white-matter tracts that convey the impulses: the spinal cord's posterior column and the brainstem's medial lemniscus. First-order sensory neurons extend their axons into the spinal cord, forming the...
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Introduction to Special Senses01:26

Introduction to Special Senses

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Sensory receptors play an integral part in comprehending our external and internal environments. They receive diverse stimuli, converting them into the nervous system's electrochemical signals. This conversion occurs as the stimulus alters the sensory neuron's cell membrane potential, instigating the generation of an action potential. This action potential is subsequently transmitted to the central nervous system (CNS), which integrates with other sensory data or higher cognitive...
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Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System01:11

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

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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...
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Sensory Functions of the Skin01:16

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The skin is the largest organ of the human body and plays a crucial role in our sensory perception. It contains a vast network of sensory receptors that contribute to the skin's protective function by perceiving physical, biological, and environmental cues and generating relevant responses.
There are two main categories of receptors on the skin: capsulated and non-capsulated. The non-capsulated ones are mainly the pain receptors. The capsulated ones can be further categorized based on the...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 5, 2026

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS
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Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS

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Phantom tactile sensations modulated by body position.

Jared Medina1, Brenda Rapp

  • 1Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. jared.medina@uphs.upenn.edu

Current Biology : CB
|December 9, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Individuals with brain damage experience bilateral touch sensations (synchiria) due to impaired inhibitory mechanisms. Hand position influences synchiria, suggesting inhibitory control operates across multiple reference frames.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Somatosensory Perception
  • Human Neuropsychology

Background:

  • Unilateral somatosensory stimulation typically activates bilateral brain areas via crosshemispheric connections.
  • Neurologically intact individuals usually suppress ipsilateral sensations, preventing bilateral perception.

Observation:

  • A rare case of synchiria (bilateral sensations from unilateral touch) was observed in an individual with fronto-parietal damage.
  • This condition suggests a failure in inhibitory mechanisms that normally prevent bilateral perceptual experiences.

Findings:

  • Synchiria rate is influenced by hand position relative to the body and head.
  • Reduced synchiria was noted as hands moved towards ipsilesional space and disappeared when hands were crossed.

Implications:

  • Disruption of inhibitory mechanisms offers insights into their functioning.
  • Evidence suggests that neural inhibition operates within multiple reference frames (e.g., trunk-centered, head-centered).