Intro | Primary Auditory Cortex | Central Fissure | Frontal Lobe | Lateral Fissure | Primary Motor Cortex | Occipital Lobe | Parietal Lobe | Primary Somatosensory Cortex | Temporal Lobe | Primary Visual Cortex
Part 1: Image-Mapped Tutorial
Part 2: Matching Self-Test
Part 3: Multiple-Choice Self-Test
Primary Somatosensory Cortex is located in the parietal lobe just behind (posterior to) the central fissure. Primary somatosensory cortex contains neurons that register the sense of touch. Similar to primary motor cortex, this strip of cortex is highly organized with specific regions representing each part of the body. Regions of the body that are capable of making finer discriminations of touch (palm of hand and mouth) have a larger area of representation than areas that are capable of gross discrimination only (such as the back or feet). Electrical stimulation of any of these specific regions results in the sensation of being touched on the represented body part.
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Primary somatosensory cortex is also known as the postcentral gyrus (meaning the hump located behind the central fissure). This sensory region is specialized for touch and other skin and muscle sensations for the contralateral or opposite side of the body. Somatosensory cortex consists of four bands of tissue that run parallel to the central fissure. The body is represented in each of these bands; two receive mostly light touch information, one receives deep-pressure information, and the last receives a combination of information representing each sensation.