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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.

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...

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...

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.

Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

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...

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Visualization of Cortical Modules in Flattened Mammalian Cortices

Visualization of Cortical Modules in Flattened Mammalian Cortices

Published on: January 22, 2018

Dynamic representations of the somatosensory cortex.

Mark Tommerdahl¹, Oleg V Favorov, Barry L Whitsel

¹Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States. tommerda@med.unc.edu

Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews

|September 8, 2009

Summary

The primary somatosensory cortex (SI) dynamically refines tactile representations through neural competition. This process sharpens stimulus perception by selecting specific neurons, improving performance on sensory tasks.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Somatosensory System
Cortical Plasticity

Background:

The primary somatosensory cortex (SI) transforms raw sensory input.
Neural representations evolve from peripheral to cortical levels.
Dynamic competitive interactions shape SI processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the dynamic processes underlying neural representation transformation in SI.
To understand how competitive interactions refine tactile stimulus representation.
To link neural processing in SI to perceptual performance.

Main Methods:

Analysis of existing optical imaging, neural recording, and psychophysical studies.
Examination of competitive interactions across multiple levels of cortical organization (neurons, minicolumns, macrocolumns, SI-SII, interhemispheric).
Focus on stimulus-directed dynamical selection processes.

Main Results:

SI refines tactile representations via competitive neural interactions.
Widespread activity is funneled into stimulus-specific macrocolumns.
Macrocolumns fractionate into minicolumn patterns, selecting neurons matching stimulus properties.
This selection sharpens responses to suprathreshold and time-extended stimuli.

Conclusions:

SI dynamically shapes tactile representations through stimulus-directed selection.
Competitive interactions are crucial for refining neural codes.
Enhanced neural representations in SI correlate with improved tactile perception.