In the fields of psychology and neuroscience, the term homunculus denotes the depiction of the body within the brain — specifically, the representation within the somatosensory and motor cortices. Certain regions of the body, such as the hands and the lips, are disproportionately represented as larger because they demand greater degrees of sensory and motor fine-tuning. The homunculus sheds light on how the brain processes touch and controls movement of limbs. For example, the sensory homunculus demonstrates how the fingertips, due to greater nerve sensitivity, occupy more cortical space in the brain compared to the back.
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