Somatosensory pathways

Question 1

Actually composed of four types of sensory information:

Answer 1

touch, kinesthesis, temperature, and pain

Question 2

From numerous specialized receptors to…

Answer 2

dorsal tracts of spinal cord

Question 3

Fine touch, pressure, and kinesthesis pathways…

Answer 3

• ascend to brain stem nuclei and cross
• ventral ventrobasal (VLP) thalamus
• Primary sensory cortex – areas 3, 1, 2
• Secondary sensory cortex – areas 5, 7, SII

Question 4

Pain and temp. synapse in dorsal spinal cord cross…

Answer 4

• dorsal ventrobasal and posterior (VLP) thalamus
• Primary sensory cortex
• Secondary sensory cortex

Question 5

Multiple rep. fror light tough of skin, deep pressure of fascia below skin, joint movement, pain, temp.

Answer 5

….stop reading this, I wasn’t sure how to turn this into a question

Question 6

____ is disproportionate to the body, but proportionate to sensitivity of various areas

Answer 6

Homunculus

Question 7

Neurons in ____ and ____ respond maximally only to one type of stimulation from a specific area of the body

Answer 7

thalamus and primary sensory area

Question 8

Neurons in secondary areas respond to more ….

Answer 8

complex aspects of stimulation – i.e. edges, objects, movement of stimulation in one direction, precise orientation of tactile stimulation and have larger receptive fields – probably all important for 3-D perception of objects held in hand.