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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.

What is a Sensory System?

What is a Sensory System?

Sensory systems detect stimuli—such as light and sound waves—and transduce them into neural signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system. In addition to external stimuli detected by the senses, some sensory systems detect internal stimuli—such as the proprioceptors in muscles and tendons that send feedback about limb position.

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...

Introduction to Special Senses

Introduction to Special Senses

Sensory receptors play an integral part in comprehending our external and internal environments. They receive diverse stimuli, converting them into the nervous system's electrochemical signals. This conversion occurs as the stimulus alters the sensory neuron's cell membrane potential, instigating the generation of an action potential. This action potential is subsequently transmitted to the central nervous system (CNS), which integrates with other sensory data or higher cognitive...

Perception

Perception

Perception is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to organize, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. This process is crucial for understanding and interacting with the world around us. It includes both bottom-up and top-down processing, each playing a distinct role in how we perceive our environment.
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...

Sensation

Sensation

Sensory receptors are specialized neurons that respond to specific types of external stimuli, initiating the process known as sensation. This occurs when sensory input, such as light entering the eye, is detected by these receptors, causing chemical changes in the cells of the retina. These cells then convert the sensory stimulus into action potentials that are transmitted to the central nervous system, a process termed transduction.
Absolute thresholds can quantify the sensitivity of sensory...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2025

An Objective and Reproducible Test of Olfactory Learning and Discrimination in Mice

An Objective and Reproducible Test of Olfactory Learning and Discrimination in Mice

Published on: March 22, 2018

Neuroscience: Hacking development to understand sensory discrimination.

Andrew C Lin¹, Lucia Prieto-Godino²

¹School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.

Current Biology : CB

|August 8, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Neural circuits enable fine sensory discrimination. Manipulating parameters in the fly

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory Biology
Computational Neuroscience

Background:

Fine sensory discrimination is crucial for survival.
Specific neural circuit architectures underpin these abilities.
The mushroom body in flies is a key center for memory and learning.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how neural circuit parameters influence sensory coding.
To understand the mechanisms of fine sensory discrimination in the fly mushroom body.
To explore the relationship between network properties and sensory perception.

Main Methods:

Experimental manipulation of network parameters in the fly mushroom body.
Analysis of neural activity and sensory coding.
Behavioral assays to assess sensory discrimination abilities.

Main Results:

Altering specific network parameters significantly impacts sensory coding within the mushroom body.
Changes in neural circuit architecture lead to measurable alterations in sensory discrimination.
The study identifies key parameters critical for fine sensory processing.

Conclusions:

Neural circuit parameters are critical determinants of sensory discrimination.
The fly mushroom body's architecture can be modulated to alter sensory perception.
This research provides insights into the neural basis of sensory processing and memory.