Publication

Beyond the homunculus: Visual responses of primary somatosensory cortex (S1) neurons to virtual touch of a virtual

2012
Posters

Abstract

Following a brief period of brushing a monkey arm with a real brush, synchronized with the vision of an arm avatar being brushed virtually, neurons in the primary somatosensory and motor cortices began to fire in response to the virtual brushing alone, suggesting that cortical representation of the body can be reshaped, in a matter of minutes, to incorporate even virtual limbs.

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2012
Posters

Abstract

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Primary somatosensory cortex

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. Although initially defined to be roughly the same as Brodmann areas 3, 1 and 2, more recent work by Kaas has suggested that for homogeny with other sensory fields only area 3 should be referred to as "primary somatosensory cortex", as it receives the bulk of the thalamocortical projections from the sensory input fields.

Somatosensory system

In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is a subset of the sensory nervous system, which also represents visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustatory stimuli. Somatosensation begins when mechano- and thermosensitive structures in the skin or internal organs sense physical stimuli such as pressure on the skin (see mechanotransduction, nociception).

Cortical homunculus

A cortical homunculus () is a distorted representation of the human body, based on a neurological "map" of the areas and proportions of the human brain dedicated to processing motor functions, or sensory functions, for different parts of the body. Nerve fibresconducting somatosensory information from all over the bodyterminate in various areas of the parietal lobe in the cerebral cortex, forming a representational map of the body. Findings from the 2010s and early 2020s began to call this interpretation into question, and research is ongoing in this field.

Related publications (25)

Beyond the homunculus: Visual responses of primary somatosensory cortex (S1) neurons to virtual touch of a virtual

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