The sensorimotor network (SMN), also known as somatomotor network, is a

large-scale brain network Large-scale brain networks (also known as intrinsic brain networks) are collections of widespread brain regions showing functional connectivity by statistical analysis of the fMRI BOLD signal or other recording methods such as EEG, PET and MEG. An ...

that primarily includes

somatosensory In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

(

postcentral gyrus In neuroanatomy, the postcentral gyrus is a prominent gyrus in the lateral parietal lobe of the human brain. It is the location of the primary somatosensory cortex, the main sensory receptive area for the somatosensory system, sense of touch. Lik ...

) and

motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

(

precentral gyrus The precentral gyrus is a prominent gyrus on the surface of the posterior frontal lobe of the brain. It is the site of the primary motor cortex that in humans is cytoarchitecturally defined as Brodmann area 4. Structure The precentral gyrus l ...

) regions and extends to the

supplementary motor area The supplementary motor area (SMA) is a part of the motor cortex of primates that contributes to the control of movement. It is located on the midline surface of the hemisphere just in front of (anterior to) the primary motor cortex leg representa ...

s (SMA). The

auditory cortex The auditory cortex is the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information in humans and many other vertebrates. It is a part of the auditory system, performing basic and higher functions in hearing, such as possible relations to ...

may also be included. The SMN is activated during motor tasks, such as finger tapping, indicating that the network readies the brain when performing and coordinating motor tasks.

Clinical significance

Dysfunction in the SMN has been implicated in various

neuropsychiatric disorders A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

. *

Bipolar Disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

: The psychomotor disturbances that characterize the depressive and manic phases of bipolar disorder may be related to dysfunction in the sensorimotor network (SMN) and its balance with other large-scale networks such as the

default mode network In neuroscience, the default mode network (DMN), also known as the default network, default state network, or anatomically the medial frontoparietal network (M-FPN), is a large-scale brain network primarily composed of the dorsal medial prefro ...

. *

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

: Altered

functional connectivity Resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI or R-fMRI) is a method of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that is used in brain mapping to evaluate regional interactions that occur in a resting or task-negative state, when an explicit task is not being ...

patterns in the SMN may contribute to various symptoms in the neurodegenerative disease .

Nomenclature

In 2019, Uddin et al. proposed that ''pericentral network'' (''PN'') be used as a standard anatomical name for the network.

References

{{Human connectomics Neuroscience Brain