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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...

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...

Sensory Modalities

Sensory Modalities

Sensation typically is the process by which the sensory receptors and sense organs detect stimuli from the internal and external environment and transmit this information to the central nervous system for processing.
General senses refer to the broad category of sensory information detected by receptors in the body and can be further grouped into somatic and visceral senses. Somatic sensations include touch, pressure, temperature, and pain and are essential for navigating our environment and...

Introduction to Special Senses

Introduction to Special Senses

Sensory receptors play an integral part in comprehending our external and internal environments. They receive diverse stimuli, converting them into the nervous system's electrochemical signals. This conversion occurs as the stimulus alters the sensory neuron's cell membrane potential, instigating the generation of an action potential. This action potential is subsequently transmitted to the central nervous system (CNS), which integrates with other sensory data or higher cognitive functions.

Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Published on: December 31, 2013

Modulation of somatosensory processing by action.

Sukhwinder S Shergill¹, Thomas P White, Daniel W Joyce

¹Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. sukhi.shergill@kcl.ac.uk

|January 2, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Our brains predict sensations from movement, reducing their intensity when synchronized. This neuroimaging study reveals how the somatosensory cortex processes movement prediction and force.

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Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Somatosensory Cortex Research
Motor Control

Background:

Psychophysical studies indicate that predicted sensory feedback from self-generated movements is attenuated.
Motor forward models are hypothesized to predict sensory consequences of movement, including timing and intensity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neurophysiological basis of sensory attenuation during self-generated movements using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
To examine how the timing and force of movements influence tactile sensation processing in the brain.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to measure brain activity.
Participants' movements were varied in occurrence, timing, and force while tactile sensations were assessed.
Specific focus on tactile-related activity within the secondary somatosensory cortex.

Main Results:

Tactile-related activity in the secondary somatosensory cortex was significantly reduced when sensations were associated with movement.
This sensory attenuation was maximal when movement and tactile sensation occurred synchronously.
The force of the movement was encoded by the magnitude of the response in this region, not the degree of attenuation.

Conclusions:

The findings provide neurophysiological evidence supporting the role of motor forward models in sensory attenuation.
The study identifies specific brain activity patterns correlating with behavioral observations of movement prediction.
This approach is valuable for studying clinical conditions potentially involving deficits in motor forward models.