page_title: Sensory nervous system
section_title: Somatosensory cortex
hierarchical_section_title: Sensory nervous system / Sensory cortex / Somatosensory cortex
caption_attribution_description: العربية: العين البشرية Čeština: Lidské oko. Deutsch: Menschliches Auge. English: Human eye. Español: Iris de un ojo humano. فارسی: چشم انسان Français&#160;: Œil humain Italiano: Occhio umano. ქართული: ადამიანის თვალი Kapampangan: Ini ing mata ning tau Português: Íris de um olho humano. Русский: Глаз человека Türkçe: İnsan Gözu 中文: 人眼
context_page_description: The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. A sensory system consists of sensory neurons, neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved in sensory perception. Commonly recognized sensory systems are those for vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and balance. In short, senses are transducers from the physical world to the realm of the mind where we interpret the information, creating our perception of the world around us.
  Organisms need information to solve at least three kinds of problems: to maintain an appropriate environment, i.e., homeostasis; to time activities or synchronize activities with those of conspecifics; and to locate and respond to resources or threats. Organisms also need to transmit information in order to influence another's behavior: to identify themselves, warn conspecifics of danger, coordinate activities, or deceive.
  The receptive field is the area of the body or environment to which a receptor organ and receptor cells respond. For instance, the part of the world an eye can see, is its receptive field; the light that each rod or cone can see, is its receptive field.
context_section_description: Located in the parietal lobe, the primary somatosensory cortex is the primary receptive area for the sense of touch and proprioception in the somatosensory system.  This cortex is further divided into Brodmann areas 1, 2, and 3.  Brodmann area 3 is considered the primary processing center of the somatosensory cortex as it receives significantly more input from the thalamus, has neurons highly responsive to somatosensory stimuli, and can evoke somatic sensations through electrical stimulation.  Areas 1 and 2 receive most of their input from area 3. There are also pathways for proprioception (via the cerebellum), and motor control (via Brodmann area 4). See also: S2 Secondary somatosensory cortex.
caption: The human eye is the first element of a sensory system: in this case, vision, for the visual system.
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