In other cases it represents other stimulus properties resulting from neuronal computation and is generally ordered in a manner that reflects the periphery.
An example is the somatosensory map which is a projection of the skin's surface in the brain that arranges the processing of tactile sensation.
[2] Both the somatosensory cortex and the central nervous system are made up of neurons which create associations with each other to transmit electrical impulses throughout the body.
[3] The central nervous system, when made aware of various stimuli without the body, sends signals to the brain.
[4] Each system produces different sensory maps that are connected to analyze an organism’s surroundings more thoroughly.
[1] Scientists speculate that these nerve connections have grown increasingly over the lifetime of an organism and have also been genetically passed on by earlier generations.
Phrased another way, topographic maps are organized in the neural system in a manner that is a projection of the sensory surface within the brain.
This organization can be somatotopic,[10] as in the tactile sense of touch, or tonotopic,[11] as in the ear, and the retinotopic map which is laid out in the brain as the cells are arranged on the retina.