ABSTRACT
Preamble: sensory processing in general The conventional thing at this point would be to launch immediately into a description of the cutaneous sensory receptors, their afferent fibres, the spinal cord, the central pathways, and so on and so on. But in physiology in general, and above all in neurophysiology, if there are difficulties to be faced they lie not so much in assimilating these undeniably essential but nevertheless not-alwaysvery-enlightening details, but in understanding the system as a whole, and above all what it is for. We make no apology then, since this is the first sensory system you have encountered, for beginning at a much deeper level, inviting you to think a little about the purpose not just of the cutaneous system, but sensory systems in general. What use is sensory information? How does its use determine how it is processed?
