The right side of the brain processes sensory input from the left side of the body and vice versa. Is the same true for sensory input, particularly pain, from the structures around the brain, such as the meninges and blood vesels?
by 
kroppy
ANSWERS: 3
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not always
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Basically, the way it works is you have 2 types of nervous systems; The Somatic Nervous system (SNS), and the Autonomic Nervous system (ANS). The Somatic Nervous system is your voluntary system, and controls movement, etc. The autonomic nervous system is the one not under your control, and controls things like your heart rate and gut motility. The SNS is responsibly for sensation felt most places on the outside and inside of your body, but the ANS is responsible for pain felt in your internal organs. Now there's a difference between these pains, in that if you hurt your elbow, you'll feel it at your elbow (localised pain) and thats the SNS, but if your diaphragm or gall bladder is hurt, chances are you'll feel pain at your shoulder tip (referred pain), and this is because of your ANS carrying signals from one part of your body, and your brain telling you the pain is from elsewhere. The phenonenon you referred to is called the "sesnory homunculus" and i think only applies to the SNS, and not to the ANS. Hope that helps!
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The brain is far more complex than the "right brain/left brain" dichotomy would indicate. We have recently discovered that information is stored in multiple places involving both right and left himispheres, similar to a holographic image.
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