Sensation in living beings is enabled through various stimulus detection systems

which have evolved to facilitate the survival of the species. One such exquisite system

is the somatosensory system, which mediates exploration of the immediate

environment with respect to one's own body using the sense of touch. This system

contains dynamic representations of tactile inputs and interacts with other effector

systems to enable the organism to interact and adapt to the ever-changing environment.

The tactile inputs from the entire skin surface and the kinaesthetic inputs from the

joints are transmitted via sensory pathways through the spinal cord, brainstem, and

thalamus to the somatosensory cortex. Specifically, one of the pathways, referred to as

the dorsal column medial lemniscal (DCML) system enables fine tactile discrimination

and movements of our body joints. The primary somatosensory cortex has a

systematic representation of the body parts from head to foot in a lateral to medial

order. Similar maps of the body surface are also present subcortically in the thalamic

and brainstem somatosensory nuclei. Further, somatosensory neurons work in tandem

with the neurons in the motor cortex to produce the motor output.