Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

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...

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.

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.

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,...

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...

Visual System

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A lineage-based model of scalable positional information in vertebrate brain development.

Neuron·2026

Same author

The road to commercial success for neuromorphic technologies.

Nature communications·2025

Same author

Low-power Spiking Neural Network audio source localisation using a Hilbert Transform audio event encoding scheme.

Communications engineering·2025

Same author

Real-time sub-milliwatt epilepsy detection implemented on a spiking neural network edge inference processor.

Computers in biology and medicine·2024

Same author

Neuromorphic intermediate representation: A unified instruction set for interoperable brain-inspired computing.

Nature communications·2024

Same author

Entorhinal grid-like codes and time-locked network dynamics track others navigating through space.

Nature communications·2023

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Visualization of Cortical Modules in Flattened Mammalian Cortices

Visualization of Cortical Modules in Flattened Mammalian Cortices

Published on: January 22, 2018

Embedding of cortical representations by the superficial patch system.

Dylan Richard Muir¹, Nuno M A Da Costa, Cyrille C Girardin

¹Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zürich and ETH Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland. muir@hifo.uzh.ch

Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)

|March 9, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The superficial patch system in the neocortex physically encodes self-consistent states. This network of labeled patches represents mutually consistent cortical input, revealing its function in visual processing.

More Related Videos

Examining Local Network Processing using Multi-contact Laminar Electrode Recording

Examining Local Network Processing using Multi-contact Laminar Electrode Recording

Published on: September 8, 2011

Electrophysiological and Morphological Characterization of Neuronal Microcircuits in Acute Brain Slices Using Paired Patch-Clamp Recordings

Electrophysiological and Morphological Characterization of Neuronal Microcircuits in Acute Brain Slices Using Paired Patch-Clamp Recordings

Published on: January 10, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Visualization of Cortical Modules in Flattened Mammalian Cortices

Visualization of Cortical Modules in Flattened Mammalian Cortices

Published on: January 22, 2018

Examining Local Network Processing using Multi-contact Laminar Electrode Recording

Examining Local Network Processing using Multi-contact Laminar Electrode Recording

Published on: September 8, 2011

Electrophysiological and Morphological Characterization of Neuronal Microcircuits in Acute Brain Slices Using Paired Patch-Clamp Recordings

Electrophysiological and Morphological Characterization of Neuronal Microcircuits in Acute Brain Slices Using Paired Patch-Clamp Recordings

Published on: January 10, 2015

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cortical Architecture
Visual Processing

Background:

Pyramidal cells in neocortical layers 2 and 3 form a clustered superficial patch system.
The precise function of this widespread cortical architecture has remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the functional role of the superficial patch system in the neocortex.
To determine the relationship between the spatial organization of the patch system and cortical responses.

Main Methods:

Comparison of spatial configuration of labeled patches with responses to drifting grating stimuli.
Analysis of conserved spatial organizations in cat and monkey primary visual cortex.

Main Results:

The spatial organization of the superficial patch system and cortical responses are highly conserved between species.
The configuration of the superficial patch system directly mirrors functional organization in the monkey visual cortex.
A strong link exists between the superficial patch system's structure and cortical responses representing self-consistent states.

Conclusions:

The superficial patch system physically encodes self-consistent cortical states.
Concurrent labeled patches form networks of mutually consistent representations of cortical input.
This structure supports the spontaneous emergence of orientation response-like activity patterns.