Figure 7: Two
different views of the spread of somatosensory activity in the cortex. In the
scheme on the left, activity is widely distributed through the non-specific
thalamic nuclei, such as the centrolateral nucleus (CL), which receive inputs
from the spinothalamic and spinoreticular tracts either directly or via the
midbrain reticular formation (RF). In the scheme on the right, activity spreads
out from the primary somatosensory area (SI), which receives inputs from the
specific thalamic nuclei VPM (ventral posteromedial) and VPL (ventral posterolateral).
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