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Related Concept Videos

Somatosensation01:33

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.
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

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.
Major Somatic Sensory Pathways01:28

Major Somatic Sensory Pathways

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 posterior columns...
Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

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,...
Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways01:29

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...
Indirect Motor Pathways01:22

Indirect Motor Pathways

The indirect motor or extrapyramidal pathways originate in the brainstem, the lower portion of the brain that connects it to the spinal cord. They consist of several distinct tracts, each with specialized functions. The four main tracts of the indirect motor pathways are the vestibulospinal tract, the reticulospinal tract, the tectospinal tract, and the rubrospinal tract.
The vestibulospinal tract originates in the vestibular nuclei of the brainstem. The vestibular system detects changes in...

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Related Experiment Video

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Block Building Task Identifies Distinct Groups of Left/Right-hand Choice Patterns After Unilateral Peripheral Nerve Injury
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Bilateral hand representations in human primary proprioceptive areas.

Svenja Borchers1, Till-Karsten Hauser, Marc Himmelbach

  • 1Division of Neuropsychology, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany.

Neuropsychologia
|August 26, 2011
PubMed
Summary

A right postcentral gyrus lesion impaired proprioception for both hands, causing directional errors in perceived limb position. This suggests early integration of sensory information, possibly via callosal connections.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Somatosensory research
  • Neuroplasticity

Background:

  • The postcentral gyrus is traditionally viewed as having strictly lateralized sensory representations for limb positions.
  • However, some evidence suggests bilateral processing may occur even in early somatosensory areas.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of the postcentral gyrus in proprioceptive processing.
  • To examine the impact of a localized lesion in the hand area of the postcentral gyrus on limb position sense.

Main Methods:

  • A patient with a right postcentral gyrus lesion underwent a finger position-matching task.
  • Proprioceptive deficits were assessed without visual feedback, with visual feedback of the passive hand, and with visual feedback of the active hand.

Main Results:

  • The patient exhibited significant directional errors in perceived limb position for both hands, indicating impaired proprioception.
  • These errors, particularly when reaching to the contralesional limb without vision, were larger than in healthy controls.
  • Vision partially improved performance, but errors persisted, suggesting a fundamental issue in proprioceptive integration.

Conclusions:

  • A lesion in the right postcentral gyrus affects proprioceptive processing for both ipsilateral and contralateral limbs.
  • This indicates that even early somatosensory areas integrate contralateral and ipsilateral proprioceptive information, likely through callosal pathways.