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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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 9, 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

Sensory feedback for limb prostheses in amputees.

Stanisa Raspopovic¹, Giacomo Valle², Francesco Maria Petrini²

¹Laboratory for Neuroengineering, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. stanisa.raspopovic@hest.ethz.ch.

Nature Materials

|April 16, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Restoring natural sensory feedback in prosthetic limbs is crucial. This review explores neurotechnological solutions to provide amputees with touch and proprioception, improving prosthesis control and function.

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Last Updated: Nov 9, 2025

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Area of Science:

Neurotechnology
Biomedical Engineering
Rehabilitation Science

Background:

Current prosthetic devices lack natural sensory feedback, leading to unphysiological movement and poor control.
This deficit creates significant challenges for amputees using prosthetic legs and hands, impacting daily life and health.
Restoring sensory information is a critical unmet need in prosthetic development.

Purpose of the Study:

To review neurotechnological approaches for restoring sensory feedback in prosthetic limbs.
To identify methods for eliciting natural sensations of touch and proprioception.
To guide the development of advanced prosthetic devices for arm and leg amputees.

Main Methods:

Comprehensive literature review of neurotechnological strategies for sensory feedback.
Analysis of methods for interfacing with the nervous system to deliver sensory signals.
Evaluation of approaches mimicking biological sensory receptors.

Main Results:

Various neurotechnological methods show promise for restoring sensory feedback.
Techniques aim to replicate signals from skin, muscle, and joint receptors.
Progress is being made in delivering complex sensory information to the nervous system.

Conclusions:

Neurotechnology offers viable pathways to restore natural sensory feedback in prosthetics.
Advanced sensory feedback can significantly improve prosthesis control and user experience.
Further research in this area is essential for developing optimal prosthetic solutions.