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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.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS

Published on: July 30, 2020

Basal forebrain dynamics during a tactile discrimination task.

Eric Thomson¹, Jason Lou², Kathryn Sylvester²

¹Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute for Neuroscience of Natal, Natal, Brazil.

Journal of Neurophysiology

|June 13, 2014

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Neurons in the nucleus basalis (NB) encode task-relevant information, reflecting a value-laden sensorimotor state during behavioral tasks. This suggests NB neurons play a crucial role in cognitive processing and reward valuation.

Keywords:

basal forebrain reward processing whisker system

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Behavioral Neuroscience

Background:

The nucleus basalis (NB) is a key cholinergic structure modulating cortical processing.
It projects widely across the cortex, influencing information processing in all layers.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of NB neurons in a whisker-dependent tactile discrimination task.
To determine if NB neurons encode stimulus identity and reward value during active behavior.

Main Methods:

Recorded single-unit activity in the rat nucleus basalis during a tactile discrimination task.
Compared neural responses to stimuli during active behavior versus anesthetized conditions.

Main Results:

Over 80% of NB neurons showed significant modulation during task performance.
Neuronal firing rates increased with reward magnitude, indicating value encoding.
NB neurons encoded stimulus identity, with robust coding observed only during active behavior.

Conclusions:

Nucleus basalis neurons provide a value-laden representation of the animal's sensorimotor state.
These findings support the NB's role in integrating sensory information with reward value during complex tasks.