A cortical homunculus is a distorted representation of the human body, based on a neurological “map” of the areas and proportions of the human brain dedicated to processing motor functions, or sensory functions, for different parts of the body. The word homunculus is Latin for “little man”, and was a term used in alchemy and folklore long before scientific literature began using it. A cortical homunculus, or “cortex man”, illustrates the concept of a representation of the body lying within the brain. Nerve fibres—conducting somatosensory information from all over the body—terminate in various areas of the parietal lobe in the cerebral cortex, forming a representational map of the body.
1: Matias CM. Edwin Boldrey and Wilder Penfield's Homunculus: From Past to Present. World Neurosurg. 2019 Nov 30. pii: S1878-8750(19)32994-8. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2019.11.144. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31794840.
2: Keiner D. How to approach a brain in an atraumatic fashion - how early cortical stimulation paved the way to neurosurgery as we understand today. World Neurosurg. 2019 Nov 21. pii: S1878-8750(19)32902-X. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2019.11.064. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31760187.
3: Nguyen J, Duong H. Neurosurgery, Sensory Homunculus. 2019 Nov 3. StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2019 Jan-. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549841/ PubMed PMID: 31751031.
4: Gandhoke GS, Belykh E, Zhao X, Leblanc R, Preul MC. Edwin Boldrey and Wilder Penfield's Homunculus: A Life Given by Mrs. Cantlie (In and Out of Realism). World Neurosurg. 2019 Aug 27;132:377-388. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2019.08.116. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 31470165.
5: Ladino LD, Rizvi S, Téllez-Zenteno JF. The Montreal procedure: The legacy of the great Wilder Penfield. Epilepsy Behav. 2018 Jun;83:151-161. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2018.04.001. Epub 2018 Apr 26. PubMed PMID: 29705626.
6: Weigel R, Capelle HH, Flor H, Krauss JK. Event-related cortical processing in neuropathic pain under long-term spinal cord stimulation. Pain Physician. 2015 Mar-Apr;18(2):185-94. PubMed PMID: 25794205.
7: Snyder PJ, Whitaker HA. Neurologic heuristics and artistic whimsy: the cerebral cartography of Wilder Penfield. J Hist Neurosci. 2013;22(3):277-91. doi: 10.1080/0964704X.2012.757965. Epub 2013 May 16. PubMed PMID: 23679224.
8: Teixeira MJ, de Andrade DC, Fonoff ET. Intra-operative transdural electric stimulation in awake patient: target refining for motor cortex stimulation. Acta Neurochir Suppl. 2013;117:73-8. doi: 10.1007/978-3-7091-1482-7_12. PubMed PMID: 23652660.
9: Pogliano C. Penfield's homunculus and other grotesque creatures from the Land of If. Nuncius. 2012;27(1):141-62. PubMed PMID: 23035398.
10: Michels L, Mehnert U, Boy S, Schurch B, Kollias S. The somatosensory representation of the human clitoris: an fMRI study. Neuroimage. 2010 Jan 1;49(1):177-84. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.07.024. Epub 2009 Jul 23. PubMed PMID: 19631756.
11: Farrell DF, Burbank N, Lettich E, Ojemann GA. Individual variation in human motor-sensory (rolandic) cortex. J Clin Neurophysiol. 2007 Jun;24(3):286-93. PubMed PMID: 17545834.
12: Ohara S, Crone NE, Weiss N, Treede RD, Lenz FA. Cutaneous painful laser stimuli evoke responses recorded directly from primary somatosensory cortex in awake humans. J Neurophysiol. 2004 Jun;91(6):2734-46. Epub 2003 Nov 5. PubMed PMID: 14602841.
13: Vates GE, Lawton MT, Wilson CB, McDermott MW, Halbach VV, Roberts TP, Rowley HA. Magnetic source imaging demonstrates altered cortical distribution of function in patients with arteriovenous malformations. Neurosurgery. 2002 Sep;51(3):614-23; discussion 623-7. PubMed PMID: 12188939.
14: Ishibashi H, Morioka T, Nishio S, Shigeto H, Yamamoto T, Fukui M. Magnetoencephalographic investigation of somatosensory homunculus in patients with peri-Rolandic tumors. Neurol Res. 2001 Jan;23(1):29-38. PubMed PMID: 11210427.
15: Kakigi R, Hoshiyama M, Shimojo M, Naka D, Yamasaki H, Watanabe S, Xiang J, Maeda K, Lam K, Itomi K, Nakamura A. The somatosensory evoked magnetic fields. Prog Neurobiol. 2000 Aug;61(5):495-523. Review. PubMed PMID: 10748321.
16: Roux FE, Ranjeva JP, Boulanouar K, Manelfe C, Sabatier J, Tremoulet M, Berry I. [Presurgical evaluation of cerebral tumors with functional MRI]. Neurochirurgie. 1998 Apr;44(2):94-100. French. PubMed PMID: 9757340.
17: Morioka T, Shigeto H, Ishibashi H, Nishio S, Yamamoto T, Yoshiura T, Fukui M. Magnetic source imaging of the sensory cortex on the surface anatomy MR scanning. Neurol Res. 1998 Apr;20(3):235-41. PubMed PMID: 9583585.
18: Roux FE, Ranjeva JP, Boulanouar K, Manelfe C, Sabatier J, Tremoulet M, Berry I. Motor functional MRI for presurgical evaluation of cerebral tumors. Stereotact Funct Neurosurg. 1997;68(1-4 Pt 1):106-11. PubMed PMID: 9711703.
19: Morioka T, Yamamoto T, Katsuta T, Fujii K, Fukui M. Presurgical three-dimensional magnetic source imaging of the somatosensory cortex in a patient with a peri-Rolandic lesion: technical note. Neurosurgery. 1994 May;34(5):930-3; discussion 933-4. PubMed PMID: 8052399.
20: Rothwell JC, Day BL, Thompson PD, Dick JP, Marsden CD. Some experiences of techniques for stimulation of the human cerebral motor cortex through the scalp. Neurosurgery. 1987 Jan;20(1):156-63. PubMed PMID: 3808258.