Nucleus · one in each half of the brain

Ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamus

Also called VPL and VPM

The body's touch and pain relay, passing every tap, ache and taste to the cortex.

The ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamus lit up in a 3D model of the human brain

The ventral posterior nucleus is the thalamus's main station for body feelings. It has two parts: VPL handles touch, pain, temperature and body position from the body, and VPM handles the same for the face, plus taste. It sends touch and pain to the postcentral gyrus, the strip of cortex that maps your body, and taste to the taste area in the insula. It is laid out like a tiny map of your body, with neighboring body parts handled by neighboring cells.

Where it is

In the lower, back part of the thalamus on its outer side, just in front of the pulvinar.

What it does

Touch relay

It passes the feeling of pressure, vibration and texture from your skin up to the cortex.

Pain and temperature

It carries sharp pain, heat and cold signals, helping you know exactly where something hurts.

Body position

It relays signals about where your limbs are, so you know where your arm is even with your eyes closed.

Taste

A small inner part relays taste from the tongue to the taste area in the insula.

A map of you

It holds a tiny map of your body, with extra space for sensitive parts like the fingers and lips.

Think of it as a post office sorting room, where letters from every part of the body are sorted by address before heading up to the cortex.

Works with

Primary somatosensory cortexReceives its touch, pain and body-position signals and makes you aware of them.
Spinal cordCarries pain, temperature and touch signals up from the body.
Medulla oblongataWhere touch and position signals cross to the other side before rising to it.
Trigeminal nerve (V)Brings in feelings from the face, which its VPM part relays.
InsulaReceives the taste signals it passes along.

When it goes wrong

Numbness after stroke

A small stroke here can cause numbness on the opposite side of the body, sometimes of the face, arm and leg together.

Thalamic pain syndrome

Weeks or months after such a stroke, some people develop burning pain in the numb area.

For learning only, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to a doctor.

Surprising facts

Your left thalamus feels the right side of your body, and the right thalamus feels the left, because the pathways cross over on the way up.

Where the name comes from

"Ventral" means toward the bottom and "posterior" means toward the back. VPL adds "lateral" (to the side) and VPM adds "medial" (toward the middle).

Learn it in a lesson

The thalamusThe brain's relay station. A short guided lesson in 3D.

Quick quiz

3 questions. Your answers are saved and come back in your daily review.

Which of these is a job of the ventral posterior nucleus?
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Touch relay. It passes the feeling of pressure, vibration and texture from your skin up to the cortex.
The ventral posterior nucleus is part of which larger structure?
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Thalamus. It belongs to the thalamus.
Which part fits this description? "Like a post office sorting room, where letters from every part of the body are sorted by address before heading up to the cortex."
Show the answer
Ventral posterior nucleus. It is the ventral posterior nucleus. The body's touch and pain relay, passing every tap, ache and taste to the cortex.

Sources

Neuroanatomy, Thalamic Nuclei, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
14.2 Central Processing, OpenStax, Anatomy and Physiology 2e
8.2 The Gustatory System, OpenStax, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience

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