What is the homunculus of the somatosensory cortex?
The sensory homunculus is a map along the cerebral cortex of where each part of the body is processed. The sensations occur all along the body. The impulses from the body will be sent into the spinal cord and eventually back to the brain to be processed. This sensory map is what the sensory homunculus illustrates.
What is the role of the somatosensory cortex?
The somatosensory cortex is a region of the brain which is responsible for receiving and processing sensory information from across the body, such as touch, temperature, and pain.
What is homunculus in psychology?
n. ( pl. homunculi) 1. a putative process or entity in the mind or the nervous system whose operations are invoked to explain some aspect of human behavior or experience.
What is the purpose of a homunculus?
A sensory homunculus represents a map of brain areas dedicated to sensory processing for different anatomical divisions of the body. The primary sensory cortex is located in the postcentral gyrus, and handles signals coming from the thalamus.
What’s the meaning of somatosensory?
Medical Definition of somatosensory : of, relating to, or being sensory activity having its origin elsewhere than in the special sense organs (as eyes and ears) and conveying information about the state of the body proper and its immediate environment somatosensory pathways.
What does homunculus mean in Latin?
The term homunculus is Latin for “little man.” It is used in neurology today to describe the map in the brain of sensory neurons in each part of the body (the somatosensory homunculus). In the history of embryology, the homunculus was part of the Enlightenment-era theory of generation called preformationism.
How is the homunculus related to the motor cortex?
This means that the primary cortex in the right cerebral hemisphere represents motor activity on the left side of the body and vice-versa. It is important to recognize that the density of receptors for various parts of the body are not the same which is why the homunculus represents different sizes as it extends over the cortex.
What is the use of the homunculus in psychology?
The homunculus is commonly used today in scientific disciplines such as psychology as a teaching or memory tool to describe the distorted scale model of a human drawn or sculpted to reflect the relative space human body parts occupy on the somatosensory cortex (the “sensory homunculus”) and the motor cortex (the “motor homunculus”).
How is the topographical representation of the Homunculus arranged?
The topographical representation of the homunculus is arranged in an anatomical fashion and represents the contralateral side. This means that the primary cortex in the right cerebral hemisphere represents motor activity on the left side of the body and vice-versa.
What is the function of the motor cortex?
The motor cortex is an area within the cerebral cortex of the brain that is involved in the planning, control, and execution of voluntary movements. The motor cortex can be divided into the primary motor cortex and the nonprimary motor cortex.