The homunculus — a creature resembling a tiny human — was a term used by medieval alchemists, believed to be artificially created through alchemy.
In the 1930s, Canadian neurosurgeon Penfield conducted brain research while seeking epilepsy treatments. During surgeries, he stimulated various brain regions with electricity, tapping electrodes into the opened skulls. Conscious patients described their sensations.
These studies led to the creation of a map of the brain’s cortex.
It was depicted as a schematic little person, now known as Penfield's homunculus.
Two such homunculi emerged:
- The sensory one manages impulses from nerve endings to the brain, within the primary somatosensory cortex, depicted in blue on the illustration. It encompasses all bodily sensations.
- The motor homunculus manages impulses from the brain to muscles, within the primary motor cortex, depicted in brown. It controls all body movements.
The proportions of these homunculi reflect how the body is represented in the brain’s cortex. The more engaged an area of the brain, the larger its representation. One-third represents the hand, responsible for sensing various stimuli and executing fine motor movements. Another third corresponds to the speech apparatus — lips, tongue, and throat. The remaining body parts account for the remaining third.
In 2011, Barry Komisaruk’s team published a study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Using MRI, they expanded the sensory homunculus and mapped areas related to sexual organs.
Penfield’s initial map suggested that the paracentral lobule area was responsible for these regions. Situated at the inner side of the cortex where two brain hemispheres meet. Researchers measured brain blood flow during stimulation. Higher neuron activity correlated with increased activity in these areas.
The study revealed that clitoral, vaginal, cervical, and nipple stimulations activated distinct brain cortex areas within this zone. These areas were clearly distinguishable.
According to scientists, this occurs because the effects are transmitted through different nerves of the genitals: the clitoris is connected to the pudendal nerve, the vagina to the pelvic nerve, the cervix to the hypogastric and vagus nerves.
The surprising finding was that nipple stimulation activated the genital area, and conversely, vaginal stimulation activated the breast area. These areas overlap to some extent.
However, there isn’t enough data to definitively explain this overlap. It might result from actual overlap in the brain cortex or indirect stretching of one part of the sexual organs when stimulating another part.
From the perspective of yoni massage, this scientific evidence confirms that not all orgasms are clitoral, contrary to what many sexologists claim.
Other details of the massage are described in the online course about yoni massage.
