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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.
Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System01:11

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...
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...
What is a Sensory System?01:31

What is a Sensory System?

Sensory systems detect stimuli—such as light and sound waves—and transduce them into neural signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system. In addition to external stimuli detected by the senses, some sensory systems detect internal stimuli—such as the proprioceptors in muscles and tendons that send feedback about limb position.
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...
Vision01:24

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 14, 2026

Imaging Neural Activity in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex Using Thy1-GCaMP6s Transgenic Mice
07:04

Imaging Neural Activity in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex Using Thy1-GCaMP6s Transgenic Mice

Published on: January 7, 2019

Perceiving invisible light through a somatosensory cortical prosthesis.

Eric E Thomson1, Rafael Carra, Miguel A L Nicolelis

  • 1Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Box 3209, 311 Research Drive, Bryan Research, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

Nature Communications
|February 14, 2013
PubMed
Summary

Rats learned to sense infrared light using a brain implant, demonstrating that sensory neuroprostheses can expand natural perception beyond normal limits.

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Last Updated: May 14, 2026

Imaging Neural Activity in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex Using Thy1-GCaMP6s Transgenic Mice
07:04

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Published on: January 7, 2019

A Simple Stimulatory Device for Evoking Point-like Tactile Stimuli: A Searchlight for LFP to Spike Transitions
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A Simple Stimulatory Device for Evoking Point-like Tactile Stimuli: A Searchlight for LFP to Spike Transitions

Published on: March 25, 2014

Laser-scanning Photostimulation of Optogenetically Targeted Forebrain Circuits
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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Sensory Augmentation

Background:

  • Sensory neuroprostheses offer potential for restoring lost senses.
  • The capacity of these devices to extend natural perception remains unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if sensory neuroprostheses can augment, rather than just restore, perceptual abilities.
  • To determine if rats can perceive infrared light via a neuroprosthesis.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a neuroprosthesis linking an infrared sensor to the rat's somatosensory cortex (S1) using microstimulation.
  • Trained adult rats to discriminate infrared signals presented through the device.

Main Results:

  • Rats successfully learned to perceive infrared light through the neuroprosthesis.
  • The animals developed active strategies to utilize this novel sensory input.
  • Somatosensory cortex neurons responded to both tactile input and the artificial infrared signals, indicating integration without displacement.

Conclusions:

  • Sensory cortical prostheses can enable perception of stimuli outside the natural sensory range.
  • These devices hold potential for expanding mammalian perceptual capabilities, not just restoring deficits.