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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.

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...

Tactile and Chemical Senses

Tactile and Chemical Senses

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. This...

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Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator (TSPAS)

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator (TSPAS)

Published on: July 30, 2020

Spatial patterns in tactile perception: is there a tactile field?

Patrick Haggard¹, Giulia Giovagnoli

¹Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK. p.haggard@ucl.ac.uk

Acta Psychologica

|April 8, 2011

Summary

The human sense of touch includes a tactile field, similar to vision, enabling spatial perception across the body. This tactile field processes spatial relationships between touch locations, forming the basis of tactile pattern recognition.

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Last Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator (TSPAS)

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Published on: July 30, 2020

Assessment of Spatial Lingual Tactile Sensitivity using a Gratings Orientation Test

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Published on: September 17, 2021

A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator (TAPS)

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Published on: June 3, 2009

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Somatosensation

Background:

Previous tactile spatial perception research focused on localized stimuli or single skin regions.
The existence and nature of a large-scale 'tactile field' analogous to the visual field remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the existence and properties of a tactile field supporting large-scale spatial pattern perception on the hand, arm, and back.
To determine if tactile pattern perception relies on representing spatial relations between stimulus locations.
To explore the spatial, temporal, and body-structural organization of tactile perception.

Main Methods:

Perception of large-scale tactile spatial patterns on the trunk and limbs.
Experiments assessed pattern perception, subset identification, spatial/temporal organization, and body schema reference.
Investigated effects of pattern laterality (unilateral vs. across midline).

Main Results:

Tactile pattern perception is based on representing spatial relations between individual stimulus locations.
Perception involves spatial and temporal organizing principles and references body structure (e.g., body parts, joints).
Pattern perception accuracy decreases for tactile patterns extending across the body's midline.

Conclusions:

Evidence supports the existence of a tactile field analogous to the visual field.
This tactile field computes spatial relations between stimuli, underpinning tactile pattern perception.
Tactile spatial perception is organized with respect to the body's structure and midline.