Receptive fields of mechanoreceptors in the human skin

The receptive field of a neuron usually coincides with its perceptive field – the area from which a sensation is perceived to arise.² The overlapping of receptive fields of individual neurons allows for perception to smoothly move from one sensory neuron to the next.²

The spatial resolution of a sensory system depends on the total number of receptors, and the distribution of their receptive fields over the area covered.² In body regions where the receptor density is high, neurons receive input from only a few receptors with small receptive fields close together, providing a very detailed sensory perception (e.g., the fovea in the eye for visual perception, or fingertips for tactile perception); conversely, lower receptor density at the edge of the retina or in the skin of the arm provide less detailed sensory perception.²