In neuroanatomy, the postcentral gyrus is a prominent gyrus in the lateral parietal lobe of the human brain. It is the location of the primary somatosensory cortex, the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch. Like other sensory areas, there is a map of sensory space in this location, called the sensory homunculus. The primary somatosensory cortex was initially defined from surface stimulation studies of Wilder Penfield, and parallel surface potential studies of Bard, Woolsey, and Marshall. Although initially defined to be roughly the same as Brodmann areas 3, 1 and 2, more recent work by Kaas has suggested that for homogeny with other sensory fields only area 3 should be referred to as "primary somatosensory cortex", as it receives the bulk of the thalamocortical projections from the sensory input fields. The lateral postcentral gyrus is bounded by: medial longitudinal fissure medially (to the middle) central sulcus rostrally (in front) postcentral sulcus caudally (in back) lateral sulcus inferiorly (underneath) The postcentral gyrus includes Brodmann areas 1, 2, and 3. Brodmann area 1 occupies the apex of the postcentral gyrus. File:Postcentral gyrus.gif|Postcentral gyrus (animation) File:Gray726 postcentral gyrus.png|Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere, viewed from the side. File:Blausen 0103 Brain Sensory&Motor.png|Primary cortices, including primary somatosensory cortex (labeled in purple) File:Postcentral_-_DK_ATLAS.png|Postcentral gyrus, showed on the right hemisphere. File:Postcentral gyrus coronal sections.gif|Postcentral gyrus highlighted in green on coronal T1 MRI images File:Postcentral gyrus sagittal sections.gif|Postcentral gyrus highlighted in green on sagittal T1 MRI images File:Postcentral gyrus transversal sections.

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Related concepts (9)
Primary somatosensory cortex
In neuroanatomy, the primary somatosensory cortex is located in the postcentral gyrus of the brain's parietal lobe, and is part of the somatosensory system. It was initially defined from surface stimulation studies of Wilder Penfield, and parallel surface potential studies of Bard, Woolsey, and Marshall. Although initially defined to be roughly the same as Brodmann areas 3, 1 and 2, more recent work by Kaas has suggested that for homogeny with other sensory fields only area 3 should be referred to as "primary somatosensory cortex", as it receives the bulk of the thalamocortical projections from the sensory input fields.
Somatosensory system
In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is a subset of the sensory nervous system, which also represents visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustatory stimuli. Somatosensation begins when mechano- and thermosensitive structures in the skin or internal organs sense physical stimuli such as pressure on the skin (see mechanotransduction, nociception).
Cortical homunculus
A cortical homunculus () is a distorted representation of the human body, based on a neurological "map" of the areas and proportions of the human brain dedicated to processing motor functions, or sensory functions, for different parts of the body. Nerve fibresconducting somatosensory information from all over the bodyterminate in various areas of the parietal lobe in the cerebral cortex, forming a representational map of the body. Findings from the 2010s and early 2020s began to call this interpretation into question, and research is ongoing in this field.
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