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Somatosensation

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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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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...

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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.
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The cerebral cortex, a critical structure of the brain, is intricately divided into two hemispheres, each consisting of four distinct lobes: occipital, temporal, frontal, and parietal. These lobes function cooperatively to regulate various cognitive and sensory functions, forming the basis of our complex neural capabilities.
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobes, located behind the forehead, are the command center of our brain, controlling personality, intelligence, and voluntary muscle movements.

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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...

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Related Experiment Video

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Design and Use of an Apparatus for Presenting Graspable Objects in 3D Workspace

Design and Use of an Apparatus for Presenting Graspable Objects in 3D Workspace

Published on: August 8, 2019

Specialization of reach function in human posterior parietal cortex.

Michael Vesia¹, J Douglas Crawford

¹Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Heart and Stroke Foundation Centre for Stroke Recovery, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada. mvesia@mac.com

Experimental Brain Research

|July 11, 2012

Summary

The human posterior parietal cortex (PPC) has specialized areas for planning reaching movements. This review synthesizes evidence for distinct reach modules within the PPC, differentiating them from grasp and saccade functions.

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Assessing Corticospinal Excitability During Goal-Directed Reaching Behavior

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Published on: December 2, 2022

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is crucial for goal-directed actions.
While monkey studies show reach-specific PPC areas, human effector and computational specificity for reach remain debated.

Purpose of the Study:

To review evidence for functional topography and specificity of reach representations in the human PPC.
To distinguish reach regions from saccade and grasp areas and understand action coordination.

Main Methods:

Review of functional neuroimaging studies in humans.
Analysis of parietal patient data.
Examination of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies.

Main Results:

Evidence suggests distinct reach-specific modules in the superior parietal occipital cortex, mid-posterior intraparietal cortex, and angular gyrus.
Hemispheric lateralization of reach representations is observed.
Computational specificity distinguishes reach goals (posterior-medial PPC) from movement vectors (anterior-lateral PPC).

Conclusions:

The human PPC exhibits a functional topography for reach, with specialized modules.
These modules are distinct from grasp and saccade representations.
A framework is proposed for PPC reach modules integrating reach goals, movement vectors, and eye-hand coordination.