Dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway
The dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway (DCML) is a sensory pathway of the central nervous system that conveys sensations of fine touch, vibration, two-point discrimination, and proprioception from the skin and joints. It transmits information from the body to the primary somatosensory cortex in the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobe of the brain. The pathway receives information from sensory receptors throughout the body, and carries this in nerve tracts in the white matter of the dorsal column of the spinal cord to the medulla, where it is continued in the medial lemniscus, on to the thalamus and relayed from there through the internal capsule and transmitted to the somatosensory cortex. The name dorsal-column medial lemniscus comes from the two structures that carry the sensory information: the dorsal columns of the spinal cord, and the medial lemniscus in the brainstem.
Neural connections in the DCML pathway.
Touch is perceiving the environment using skin. Specialized receptors in the skin send signals to the brain indicating light and soft pressure, hot and cold, body position and pain. It is a subset of the sensory nervous system, which also includes the visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and vestibular senses.
Touch is a crucial means of receiving information. This photo shows tactile markings identifying stairs for visually impaired people.
Touch can result in many different physiological reactions. Here, a baby laughs at being tickled by an older sister.