ANATOMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL BASES OF THE CONTROL OF SENSATIONS (BASES ANATOMO-FISIOLOGICAS DEL CONTROL DE LAS SENSACIONES),
Abstract
A study was made of the problem of the control of sensations. Considering that sensation signals in our consciousness the influence of internal and external environment, whereupon the organism reacts with a movement, sensation appears as one step in a polisynaptic reflex. The study of its control is, therefore, the study of all those structures and neurophysiological mechanisms which have something to do with its origin. From this point of view a peripheral, a cortical and a subcortical control can be considered. The first is represented by the receptors organized specifically for one kind of stimulus: visual, auditory, tactile, etc. Consequently, there is a first control at the source of the sensation determined by a selection of the different stimuli. The nervous impulse originated in the receptor travels by specific pathway to the cerebral cortex where it projects on specific areas named 'primaries areas of projection'. On these areas the impulse gives rise to a change in the electrical cortical activity known as the cortical evoked potential. These primaries areas are essential for the conscious phenomenon called sensation. Tactile and proprioceptive sensibility projects to the same neuronal population in somatic area 1, but there are specific neurons for the following kind of stimuli: movement of hairs, pressure upon the skin and mechanical deformation of deep tissues. These achievements together with others found in different modalities of sensation give good evidence of the existence of one anatomical and physiological background of sensation at neuronal level.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1962
- Accession Number
- AD0616823
Entities
People
- Miguel R. Covian
Organizations
- University of São Paulo