Internal arcuate fibers are the axons of second-order neurons contained within the gracile and cuneate nuclei of the medulla oblongata.
These fibers cross (decussate) from one side of the medulla to the other to form the medial lemniscus.
Part of the dorsal column-medial lemniscus system (second neuron), the internal arcuate fibers are important for relaying the sensation of fine touch and proprioception to the thalamus and ultimately to the cerebral cortex.
Famous quotes containing the word internal:
“The analogy between the mind and a computer fails for many reasons. The brain is constructed by principles that assure diversity and degeneracy. Unlike a computer, it has no replicative memory. It is historical and value driven. It forms categories by internal criteria and by constraints acting at many scales, not by means of a syntactically constructed program. The world with which the brain interacts is not unequivocally made up of classical categories.”
—Gerald M. Edelman (b. 1928)