Somatosensory cortex parts

7.4 A sensory map of the body, as represented in the brain. The somatosensory cortex -- a strip in the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex -- received sensations of touch. Each part of the body is represented separately. Fingers, mouth, and other particularly sensory areas take up most space (From ‘Mechanics of the Mind, Colin Blackmore - Copyright Cambridge University Press, 1977)

Comments

Dinesh ^club

By the time Wade Marshall began his research, a great deal was already known about the anatomy of the cerebral cortex. The cortex is a convoluted structure that covers the two symmetrical hemisphere of the forebrain and is divided into four parts, or lobes (frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital). Unfolded, the human cerebral cortex is about the side of a large cloth dinner napkin, only somewhat thicker. It contains about 100 billion neurons, each with about a thousand snapses, making a to9tal of about 1 quadrillion synaptic connections.

Marshall began his studies of touch sensation as a graduate student at the University of Chicago in 1936. He discovered that moving the hairs on a cat’s leg or touching its skin produces in electrical response in specific groups of neurons in the somatosensory cortex, a region of the parietal lobe that governs the sense of touch. These studies showed only that the sense of touch is represented in the brain, but Marshall immediately realized that he could advance his analysis much further. He wanted to know whether neighboring areas of the skin are represented in neighboring areas of the somatosensory cortex or scattered at random across it. ~Page 110

3 years ago.

Sign-in to write a comment.

		Page color
		Comments Panel
		Screen Margins
▼▲
		Widescreen

← Among Dinesh's photos

See also...

Book Images Book Images

Keywords

Authorizations, license

Somatosensory cortex parts

Ξ	Frame Options
3 - +