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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.

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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 30, 2025

Study Motor Skill Learning by Single-pellet Reaching Tasks in Mice

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Sequence Learning Induces Selectivity to Multiple Task Parameters in Mouse Somatosensory Cortex.

Michael R Bale¹, Malamati Bitzidou¹, Elena Giusto¹

¹Sussex Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK.

Current Biology : CB

|November 13, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Mice learned to distinguish tactile sequences by licking. Training enhanced licking behavior but not sensory responses in the somatosensory cortex, indicating learning strengthens action associations.

Keywords:

barrel cortex calcium conditioning goal-directed head-fixed in vivo optogenetics two-photon vibrissae whiskers

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory Processing
Learning and Memory

Background:

Natural signals possess sequential patterns crucial for brain interpretation.
Understanding how neuronal activity decodes these sequences is vital for sensory perception.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how cortical neuronal activity supports the discrimination of tactile sequences.
To determine the role of the somatosensory cortex in sequence learning.

Main Methods:

Mice were trained on a task distinguishing tactile "word" sequences delivered to whiskers.
Optogenetic inactivation assessed the necessity of the somatosensory cortex.
Two-photon imaging in the primary somatosensory barrel cortex (S1bf) monitored neuronal activity.

Main Results:

Mice learned to discriminate sequences, enhancing performance with later responses.
The somatosensory cortex was essential for sequence discrimination.
In trained mice, S1bf neurons showed selectivity for sensory input, action decisions, and trial outcomes.
Neuronal activity preceding licking reflected learned associations, emerging early in training.
Sensory response tuning showed minimal changes with training, lacking enhanced temporal integration.

Conclusions:

Sequence learning in S1bf primarily strengthens associations between sensory sequences and learned actions (licking).
The brain does not refine sensory feature representation for temporal integration during this learning process.
Neuronal activity reflects learned behavioral responses rather than enhanced sensory processing.