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Somatosensation

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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.

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...

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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
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Hierarchy of Motor Control

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The hierarchy of motor control refers to the different levels of organization and processing involved in controlling movement in the body. These levels range from higher cortical areas involved in planning and decision-making to lower spinal cord reflexes that respond automatically to external stimuli.

Direct Motor Pathways

Direct Motor Pathways

The direct motor pathways, also known as the pyramidal tracts, are a group of neural pathways that originate in the brain and descend through the spinal cord. They control the voluntary movement of the body. There are two major direct motor pathways: the corticospinal and the corticobulbar tracts.
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Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

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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.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 9, 2026

Non-Invasive Modulation and Robotic Mapping of Motor Cortex in the Developing Brain

Non-Invasive Modulation and Robotic Mapping of Motor Cortex in the Developing Brain

Published on: July 1, 2019

Spontaneously emerging patterns in human motor cortex code for somatotopic specific movements.

Lu Zhang^1,2, Lorenzo Pini^2,3, Gordon L Shulman⁴

¹Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Drug Addiction and Brain Health, Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Kangning Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315201, China.

|December 4, 2025

Summary

Spontaneous brain activity in the motor cortex is somatotopically organized. This brain organization acts as functional priors for tasks, showing a structured relationship between rest and task activity.

Keywords:

Biological sciences Clinical neuroscience

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Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Published on: December 31, 2013

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Motor Control

Background:

Spontaneous brain activity may serve as internal priors for task performance.
The functional-anatomical organization of spontaneous brain activity, particularly in the motor cortex, is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the somatotopic organization of spontaneous brain activity within the human motor cortex.
To determine if spontaneous activity reflects effector-specific functional priors.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare multi-voxel activity patterns during rest and during specific movements (finger tapping, toe squeezing, tongue movements).
Analysis focused on effector-specific motor sub-regions (hand, foot, mouth).

Main Results:

Spontaneous activity in motor sub-regions showed greater similarity to patterns evoked by their corresponding movements compared to non-preferred movements.
A positive correlation was found between similarity and evoked response magnitude for preferred movements.
Significant negative correlations were observed for non-preferred movements.

Conclusions:

Spontaneous brain activity in the motor cortex is somatotopically organized.
This organization reflects effector-specific functional priors.
A structured relationship exists between spontaneous rest activity and task-evoked activity in the motor cortex.