RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Sensory Cortical Representation of the Human Penis: Revisiting Somatotopy in the Male Homunculus
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 5984
OP 5987
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0712-05.2005
VO 25
IS 25
A1 Christian A. Kell
A1 Katharina von Kriegstein
A1 Alexander Rösler
A1 Andreas Kleinschmidt
A1 Helmut Laufs
YR 2005
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/25/5984.abstract
AB 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.