The somatosensory cortex is the part of the cerebral cortex that interprets almost all of our sense of touch. If someone were to be missing their somatosensory cortex they would most likely not be able to receive any information form their skin like heat, pressure, and just feeling everything around us. A person should be able to live without the somatosensory cortex because it is the thalamus that directs sense to the different parts of the brain so the sense of touch could possibly be transferred to another section of the brain. If that were to happen then the persons sense of touch would still be severely affected because of the lack of a specific part of the brain working on that sense and organizing those impulses. Basically, a person would be able to survive pretty well without their somatosensory cortex because of the brain's plasticity and the essential role the thalamus has in sorting info and most likely being able to reroute the sense to another part of the brain.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
A Missing Piece in the Brain Puzzle
This article told the story of a 24 year old woman who managed to live her whole life without a cerebellum, aka the little brain. This part of the brain is very important for basic functions like walking and speech, but because of the amazing plasticity of the brain, her brain was able to minimize the affects of that and cause her to have only slight trouble gaining those basic skills. We learned about the brain and its functions and plasticity in my psychology class and went over how the brain is able to transfer responsibility from one area to another if the area is missing or damaged but it is really cool to read a story of it happening so dramatically and with a huge section of the brain. With most cases of people missing their cerebellum not living to adulthood, her case is very interesting to learn about and take note of because it does show scientists the amazing capabilities the brain has. I think it could hint the scientists at how to help people with other missing parts with a bit of studying on what other parts took over for her.
The somatosensory cortex is the part of the cerebral cortex that interprets almost all of our sense of touch. If someone were to be missing their somatosensory cortex they would most likely not be able to receive any information form their skin like heat, pressure, and just feeling everything around us. A person should be able to live without the somatosensory cortex because it is the thalamus that directs sense to the different parts of the brain so the sense of touch could possibly be transferred to another section of the brain. If that were to happen then the persons sense of touch would still be severely affected because of the lack of a specific part of the brain working on that sense and organizing those impulses. Basically, a person would be able to survive pretty well without their somatosensory cortex because of the brain's plasticity and the essential role the thalamus has in sorting info and most likely being able to reroute the sense to another part of the brain.
The somatosensory cortex is the part of the cerebral cortex that interprets almost all of our sense of touch. If someone were to be missing their somatosensory cortex they would most likely not be able to receive any information form their skin like heat, pressure, and just feeling everything around us. A person should be able to live without the somatosensory cortex because it is the thalamus that directs sense to the different parts of the brain so the sense of touch could possibly be transferred to another section of the brain. If that were to happen then the persons sense of touch would still be severely affected because of the lack of a specific part of the brain working on that sense and organizing those impulses. Basically, a person would be able to survive pretty well without their somatosensory cortex because of the brain's plasticity and the essential role the thalamus has in sorting info and most likely being able to reroute the sense to another part of the brain.
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