Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Somatosensation01:33

Somatosensation

36.9K
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.
36.9K
Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System01:11

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

3.2K
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...
3.2K
Major Somatic Sensory Pathways01:28

Major Somatic Sensory Pathways

1.1K
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...
1.1K
Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

5.6K
Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
5.6K
Tactile and Chemical Senses01:27

Tactile and Chemical Senses

334
Tactile senses encompass touch, temperature, and pain, each mediated by specific receptors. Touch receptors detect mechanical energy or pressure against the skin. Sensory fibers from these receptors enter the spinal cord and relay information to the brain stem. Here, most fibers cross over to the opposite side of the brain. The touch information then moves to the thalamus, which projects a map of the body's surface onto the somatosensory areas of the parietal lobes in the cerebral cortex.
334
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

4.1K
The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex....
4.1K

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

The macaque ventral intraparietal functional connectivity patterns reveal an anterio-posterior specialization mirroring that described in human ventral intraparietal area.

Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)·2025
Same author

Humans use underestimates of auditory spatial and temporal uncertainty for perceptual inference.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2025
Same author

Motor imagery enhances performance beyond the imagined action.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025
Same author

The role of kinesthetic and visuospatial cues in pain-related movement avoidance.

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance·2025
Same author

Precision-based causal inference modulates audiovisual temporal recalibration.

eLife·2025
Same author

Rescaling perceptual hand maps by visual-tactile recalibration.

The European journal of neuroscience·2024
Same journal

Tau protein as a regulator of mitochondrial function and dynamics.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

A scalable, dividing cell model for the robust propagation and quantification of human sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prions.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Epigenetic regulation of mesenchymal BMP signaling directs postnatal organ innervation.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Single-shot wide-field biochemical imaging at 1 kHz frame rate.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Morphogenesis and topological evolution of a frustrated nematic liquid crystal under confinement.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

B cell-intrinsic CXCR3 drives efficient generation of ectopic pulmonary germinal center responses to influenza A virus infection.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 4, 2025

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS
04:40

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS

Published on: July 30, 2020

3.0K

The hands' default location guides tactile spatial selectivity.

Stephanie Badde1, Tobias Heed2,3

  • 1Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|April 4, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The human tactile system shows spatial selectivity for locations on the skin. However, tactile motion and temporal perception can also be influenced by the default hand position, challenging traditional somatotopic and spatiotopic models.

Keywords:
body posturespatial selectivitytactiletactile motiontemporal perception

More Related Videos

A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator TAPS
19:44

A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator TAPS

Published on: June 3, 2009

13.8K
Assessment of Spatial Lingual Tactile Sensitivity using a Gratings Orientation Test
06:00

Assessment of Spatial Lingual Tactile Sensitivity using a Gratings Orientation Test

Published on: September 17, 2021

2.7K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Aug 4, 2025

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS
04:40

Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator TSPAS

Published on: July 30, 2020

3.0K
A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator TAPS
19:44

A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator TAPS

Published on: June 3, 2009

13.8K
Assessment of Spatial Lingual Tactile Sensitivity using a Gratings Orientation Test
06:00

Assessment of Spatial Lingual Tactile Sensitivity using a Gratings Orientation Test

Published on: September 17, 2021

2.7K

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Somatosensation
  • Human Perception

Background:

  • The human skin's ability to fold allows for diverse body configurations.
  • The tactile system's spatial selectivity may involve world-centered (spatiotopic) rather than skin-centered (somatotopic) coordinates.
  • Previous research suggests visual systems can be spatiotopic.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the spatial selectivity of tactile motion and temporal event duration perception.
  • To differentiate between somatotopic, spatiotopic, and default-position-based spatial reference frames in touch.
  • To determine if tactile perception is tuned to locations on the skin or in the environment.

Main Methods:

  • Used adaptation paradigms to probe tactile spatial selectivity.
  • Independently varied hand position (uncrossed/crossed) and stimulated hand across adaptation and test phases.
  • Examined tactile motion and temporal event duration perception.

Main Results:

  • Adaptation consistently affected tactile perception at the stimulated hand, indicating skin-bound (somatotopic) selectivity.
  • Tactile motion and temporal adaptation showed cross-hand transfer only when hands were crossed during adaptation.
  • This cross-hand transfer suggests world-centered selectivity is based on the default hand position, not real-time sensory input.

Conclusions:

  • Tactile spatial selectivity is not strictly somatotopic or spatiotopic.
  • The tactile system incorporates information about the hands' default positions (e.g., right hand on the right side).
  • This challenges the established dichotomy and suggests deep integration of prior positional knowledge in tactile processing.