Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

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...

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...

Major Somatic Sensory Pathways

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...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Cognition at the core of metabolic syndrome: linking metabolic load to behavioural impairment in a longitudinal high-fat diet rat model.

Brain, behavior, & immunity - health·2026

Same author

Digital Tools' Effectiveness on Physical Activity Outcomes in Children and Adolescents: Umbrella Review.

JMIR public health and surveillance·2026

Same author

Rare Primary Headaches in Children: A Narrative Review.

Biomedicines·2026

Same author

Differences between children's self-reports and teacher ratings of emotional intelligence and anxiety: A cross-informant study.

Acta psychologica·2026

Same author

Metabolic and pathophysiological characterization of constitutional thinness.

Journal of endocrinological investigation·2026

Same author

Emotional and Social Intelligences as Predictors of Scholastic Anxiety, Depression, and Academic Results in Primary School Children.

Psychological reports·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 28, 2025

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses

Published on: January 7, 2019

Haptic Perception in Extreme Obesity: qEEG Study Focused on Predictive Coding and Body Schema.

Giuditta Gambino¹, Giuseppe Giglia^1,2, Girolamo Schiera¹

¹Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (Bi.N.D.), University of Palermo, 90129 Palermo, Italy.

|December 1, 2020

Summary

Obese individuals show poorer haptic perception due to altered brain activity in sensory integration areas. This study used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate predictive coding in haptic perception (HP).

Keywords:

EEG body schema haptic perception multisensory integration obesity parietal cortex power spectrum analysis temporal cortex

More Related Videos

Adaptation of a Haptic Robot in a 3T fMRI

Adaptation of a Haptic Robot in a 3T fMRI

Published on: October 4, 2011

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment

Published on: March 8, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Nov 28, 2025

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses

Characterization of the Sense of Agency over the Actions of Neural-machine Interface-operated Prostheses

Published on: January 7, 2019

Adaptation of a Haptic Robot in a 3T fMRI

Adaptation of a Haptic Robot in a 3T fMRI

Published on: October 4, 2011

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment

Published on: March 8, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Perception Science
Cognitive Science

Background:

Haptic perception (HP) involves manual exploration and multisensory integration for understanding physical properties.
Predictive coding in cortical areas builds and updates internal perceptual models using sensory input.
Altered body representation is linked to eating disorders, prompting investigation in obesity.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore predictive coding in haptic perception using obese subjects as a model.
To investigate differences in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity during a haptic task between obese and normally weighted individuals.

Main Methods:

Continuous electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings were performed during a haptic task.
Participants included normally weighted and obese subjects.
EEG power spectra were analyzed across different time intervals and brain regions.

Main Results:

Obese subjects exhibited poorer haptic performance compared to controls, despite similar exploration times.
A decrease in theta, alpha, and beta frequencies was observed in the right temporo-parietal areas of the obese group.
Gamma band activity significantly increased in the left frontal areas of obese individuals.

Conclusions:

Severe obesity may be associated with impaired haptic performance.
Altered activation in multisensory integrative cortical areas suggests potential interference with processing predicted sensory information.
Findings highlight potential disruptions in predictive coding mechanisms within the obese population.