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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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 16, 2025

Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

Published on: January 29, 2014

Stimulus selection enhances value-modulated somatosensory processing in the superior colliculus.

Yun Wen Chu¹, Suma Chinta¹, Hayagreev V S Keri¹

¹Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America.

|March 31, 2025

Summary

The superior colliculus (SC) transforms sensory location maps into value-based maps, unlike the somatosensory cortex (S1). This neural transformation aids in prioritizing stimuli for intelligent behavior.

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Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

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Functional Neuroimaging Using Ultrasonic Blood-brain Barrier Disruption and Manganese-enhanced MRI

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Published on: July 12, 2012

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory Processing
Decision-Making

Background:

Intelligent behavior requires selective responses to stimuli based on their value.
Understanding the neural basis of stimulus valuation is crucial for comprehending decision-making processes.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neural hierarchy where somatosensory processing shifts from location-based to value-based representations.
To determine the role of the somatosensory cortex (S1) and superior colliculus (SC) in encoding stimulus value and priority.

Main Methods:

Recorded single-unit neural activity in S1 and SC of mice performing a task involving positive and negative-valued stimuli.
Manipulated task conditions to assess the influence of behavioral choice and task readiness on neural activity.

Main Results:

Somatosensory cortex (S1) neurons showed equal preference for both stimuli, reflecting a somatotopic map.
Superior colliculus (SC) neurons exhibited a disproportionate bias towards the positive stimulus, driven by suppressed responses to the negative stimulus.
Task readiness and behavioral selection enhanced stimulus bias and spontaneous firing rates in SC, but not S1.

Conclusions:

The superior colliculus (SC) transforms somatotopic information into a value-based map, encoding stimulus priority.
SC neurons play a critical role in perceptual decision-making and value-based stimulus selection.
Neural selectivity for stimulus value is dynamically modulated by task demands and readiness.