Somatosensory system
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The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system, is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of
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 such as laughing at being tickled.
Cortical homunculus
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A cortical homunculus is a distorted representation of the human body, based on a neurological "map" of the areas and portions of the human brain dedicated to processing motor functions, and/or sensor
Somatosensory system
…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. Tactile signing is a common means of communication used by people with deafblindness. It is based on a sign language or another system of manual…
3-D sensory and motor homunculus models at the Natural History Museum, London
Rear of Sensory Homunculus