Cmm1066Nov 17, 2022
Sheril Kirshenbaum

Meet the sensory homunculus: Think of this as a brain's-eye view of the body where each part is sized based on how much space the brain gives to processing sensory information there.

While we give our eyes a lot of credit, the lips and tongue are packed with sensitive nerve endings, helping us interpret the world in many ways we may not realize.

Credit: London’s Natural History Museum #science

Nov 17, 2022 at 9:27amWeb
Show threadSciences, Flute 🌍 Nov 17, 2022
@Sheril (BTW, once again male-centric.)
Show threadSheril KirshenbaumNov 17, 2022

@SciencesPoulet Indeed! I wanted to add this, but it didn’t fit:

While the homunculus has almost exclusively been depicted as male, scientists finally described a female version last year. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/813564

Project MUSE - The Missing Female Homunculus

Show threadMartin Vermeer FCDNov 17, 2022
@Sheril The eyes have their own area in the brain, the optical cortex. This homunculus is about feeling touch etc., represented by the somatosensory cortex.
Show threadAlexandre Nov 17, 2022
@Sheril babies putting everything they find in their mouth makes more sense now
Show threadfmc01Nov 17, 2022
@Sheril Clearly a model by Penfield not Freud. In “Is Sex Necessary?”by James Thurber there is a Thurber map, with the accompanying caption “Fig. 7. It is customary to illustrate sexology chapters with a cross section of the human body. The authors have chosen to substitute in its place a chart of the North Atlantic, showing airplane routes. The authors realize that this will be of no help to the sex novice, but neither is a cross section of the human body.”
Show threadfmc01Nov 17, 2022
@Sheril Wondrous model giving insight into the nature of perception. The James Thurber source is http://checkplease.humorfeed.com/issues/2015/20150916thurber.php
Is Sex Necessary? James Thurber and E.B. White Weigh In With 'High Spirits' | Check Please!

Show threadstackerNov 17, 2022

@Sheril oh we had one of those in our biology lab at school.

I haven't seen one in decades. I was never very good at biology. Maths and Physics came easy. Then I had the hard choice of chemistry or biology for my third science.

Long distant memories.

Show threadEsther SmithNov 17, 2022
@Sheril have always been obsessed by this and that part of the Natural History Museum in general. Used to have wish fulfilment dreams that I was whisked there almost weekly as a child.
Show threadPaulNov 17, 2022
@Sheril 😎
Show threadRabbitPelletsNov 21, 2022
@Sheril I've never seen a "cleaned up one" before. Genitalia figure more prominently. I suppose you can add a fig leaf if you must obscure. What's old is new.
Show threadDr.RezaNov 25, 2022
@Sheril