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An example is the somatosensory map which is a projection of the skin's surface in the brain that arranges the processing of tactile sensation. This type of somatotopic map is the most common, possibly because it allows for physically neighboring areas of the brain to react to physically similar stimuli in the periphery or because it allows for ...
In neuroanatomy, the primary somatosensory cortex is located in the postcentral gyrus of the brain's parietal lobe, and is part of the somatosensory system. It was initially defined from surface stimulation studies of Wilder Penfield , and parallel surface potential studies of Bard, Woolsey, and Marshall.
The neural pathways that go to the brain are structured such that information about the location of the physical stimulus is preserved. In this way, neighboring neurons in the somatosensory cortex represent nearby locations on the skin or in the body, creating a map or sensory homunculus .
Areas such as the appendages, digits, penis, [2] and face can draw their sensory locations upon the somatosensory cortex. The areas which are finely controlled (e.g., the digits) have larger portions of the somatosensory cortex whereas areas which are coarsely controlled (e.g., the trunk) have smaller portions.
The sensory cortex can refer sometimes to the primary somatosensory cortex, or it can be used as a term for the primary and secondary cortices of the different senses (two cortices each, on left and right hemisphere): the visual cortex on the occipital lobes, the auditory cortex on the temporal lobes, the primary olfactory cortex on the uncus of the piriform region of the temporal lobes, the ...
In neuroanatomy, the postcentral gyrus is a prominent gyrus in the lateral parietal lobe of the human brain. It is the location of the primary somatosensory cortex, the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch. Like other sensory areas, there is a map of sensory space in this location, called the sensory homunculus.
Brain at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) (view tree for regions of the brain) BrainMaps.org; BrainInfo (University of Washington) "Brain Anatomy and How the Brain Works". Johns Hopkins Medicine. 14 July 2021. "Brain Map". Queensland Health. 12 July 2022.
The term primary comes from the fact that these cortical areas are the first level in a hierarchy of sensory information processing in the brain. This should not be confused with the function of the primary motor cortex , which is the last site in the cortex for processing motor commands.