The sensory cortical representation of the human penis: Revisiting somatotopy in the male homunculus
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Pioneering mapping studies of the human cortex have established the notion of somatotopy in sensory representation, which transpired into Penfield and Rasmussen's famous sensory homunculus diagram. However, regarding the primary cortical representation of the genitals, classical and modern findings appear to be at odds with the principle of somatotopy, often assigning it to the cortex on the mesial wall. Using functional neuroimaging, we established a mediolateral sequence of somatosensory foot, penis, and lower abdominal wall representation on the contralateral postcentral gyrus in primary sensory cortex and a bilateral secondary somatosensory representation in the parietal operculum.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 5984-5987 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Journal of Neuroscience |
Volume | 25 |
Issue number | 25 |
Publication status | Published - 22 Jul 2005 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
Externally published | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 15976087 |
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ORCID | /0000-0001-7989-5860/work/142244415 |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Brain, Functional, Genital, MRI, Postcentral gyrus, Primary sensory, Secondary sensory, Sequence, Somatosensory