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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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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator (TSPAS)

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator (TSPAS)

Published on: July 30, 2020

Changes in S1 neural responses during tactile discrimination learning.

Michael C Wiest¹, Eric Thomson, Janaina Pantoja

¹Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

Journal of Neurophysiology

|May 7, 2010

Summary

Freely moving rats exhibit distinct primary somatosensory cortex (S1) responses during active tasks compared to immobile states. Learning a whisker-dependent task further refines S1 neural representations of tactile information.

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Acute and Chronic Tactile Sensory Testing after Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

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Published on: April 4, 2012

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory processing
Motor control

Background:

Tactile responses in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) differ significantly between active and immobile animals.
Prestimulus response modulations, longer response durations, and inhibition are common in active S1 responses.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how learning a whisker-dependent discrimination task influences S1 neural activity in freely moving rats.
To determine if active behavioral context alone, prior to task learning, alters S1 responses.

Main Methods:

Recorded single-unit S1 activity in rats.
Rats performed a whisker-dependent aperture-width discrimination task.
Compared neural responses in freely moving rats before and during task learning.

Main Results:

Freely moving rats showed active response signatures in S1 even before discrimination training.
As rats learned the task, more S1 units responded to stimuli.
Neuronal sensory responses increased in duration, and individual neurons improved aperture-width prediction.

Conclusions:

The operant behavioral context alters S1 tactile responses independently of discrimination learning.
Subsequent learning of width discrimination refines the S1 representation of tactile features like aperture-width.