Somatosensation

• Somatosensation - the sensation of the body and its movements, is not one sense but many, including discriminative touch (which identifies the shape of an object), deep pressure, cold, warmth, pain, itch, tickle, and the position and movement of joints.
• Somatosensory Responses

  • Tickle - The sensation of tickle is interesting but poorly understood
  • Pain - Pain receptors (nociceptors) are free nerve endings.
• Emotional Pain - These areas react not to the sensation itself but to

  its emotional aspect. If you watch someone—especially someone you care about—experiencing pain,

  you experience sympathetic pain that shows up as activity in your cingulate cortex and other cortical

  areas.
• Ways of Relieving Pain

  • Opioids and Endorphins
  • Cannabinoids and Capsaicin
  • Placebos