somatosensory

adjective

so·​mato·​sen·​so·​ry sō-ˌma-tə-ˈsen(t)s-rē 

-ˈsen(t)-sə-rē

: of, relating to, or being sensory activity having its origin elsewhere than in the special sense organs (such as eyes and ears) and conveying information about the state of the body proper and its immediate environment

also : relating to or being either of two regions in the parietal lobe that receive and process somatosensory stimuli

Examples of somatosensory in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

When Ginty started his somatosensory research lab in the mid-1990s, the field was small and quirky, dominated by a few labs producing a handful of papers a year. —Zach Schonbrun, The Atlantic, 28 Oct. 2024

For those looking to regenerate your central nervous system and somatosensory system, give Nerve Control 911 a shot to help support and add protection against faulty nerve signals between the muscles and organs naturally. —Andrew Price, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2024

That means that long before hominin brains started exponentially growing in size and hominin hands started making stone tools, the basic brain architecture for making somatosensory maps was already in place. —Chip Colwell, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024

But the somatosensory cortex often reacted within 20 milliseconds. —Chip Colwell, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

somatosensory

adjective

so·​ma·​to·​sen·​so·​ry sō-ˌmat-ə-ˈsen(t)s-(ə-)rē  ˌsō-mət-ə- 

: of, relating to, or being sensory activity having its origin elsewhere than in the special sense organs (as eyes and ears) and conveying information about the state of the body proper and its immediate environment

somatosensory pathways