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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 stimulus...

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 the...

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...

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

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.

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 posterior columns...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2026

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

Conscious Tactile Perception Depends on Early Processing in Primary Somatosensory Cortex.

Louisa Gwynne¹, Luigi Tamè¹

¹School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

The European Journal of Neuroscience

|May 16, 2026

Summary

Early stimulation of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) causally impairs conscious tactile detection. This suggests S1

Keywords:

conscious perception somatosensory cortex tactile detection temporal processing transcranial magnetic stimulation

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Last Updated: May 17, 2026

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

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Sensory Perception

Background:

The primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is crucial for tactile perception.
Its exact role in conscious tactile detection is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the causal and time-specific involvement of S1 in conscious tactile detection.
To determine if disrupting S1 activity affects tactile perception at different time points.

Main Methods:

Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) applied over S1, inferior parietal lobe (IPL), or sham.
spTMS delivered at short (25, 75 ms) or longer (130 ms) intervals after tactile stimulation.
Participants performed a go/no-go tactile detection task at sensory threshold.

Main Results:

Early S1 stimulation (25, 75 ms) significantly reduced tactile sensitivity compared to control conditions.
Later S1 stimulation (130 ms) did not affect tactile sensitivity.
Distraction ratings did not explain the observed effects, indicating specificity.

Conclusions:

Early S1 activity is causally involved in conscious tactile detection.
Disruption of early S1 processing impairs initial tactile input encoding and awareness.
S1 plays a critical role in conscious tactile detection within a broader neural network.