A cutaneous receptor is a sensory receptor found in the skin that provides information about temperature, touch (including vibration and pain), spatial orientation,pressure (stretching or squeezing), and metabolic circumstances (including those induced by external chemical substances).
[1] The sensory receptors in the skin are: With the above-mentioned receptor types the skin can sense the modalities touch, pressure, vibration, temperature and pain.
The modalities and their receptors are partly overlapping, and are innervated by different kinds of fiber types.
Cutaneous receptors are at the ends of afferent neurons.
In sensory transduction, the afferent nerves transmit through a series of synapses in the central nervous system, first in the spinal cord, the ventrobasal portion of the thalamus, and then on to the somatosensory cortex.