Editing Homunculus (section)

==Terminological use in modern science==
{{Main|Cortical homunculus}}
The homunculus is commonly used today in scientific disciplines such as [[psychology]] as a teaching or memory tool to describe the distorted [[scale model]] of a human drawn or sculpted to reflect the relative space human body parts occupy on the [[somatosensory cortex]] (the [[sensory homunculus]]) and the [[motor cortex]] (the [[motor homunculus]]). Both the motor and sensory homunculi usually appear as small men superimposed over the top of precentral or postcentral [[gyrus|gyri]] for motor and sensory cortices, respectively. The homunculus is oriented with feet medial and shoulders lateral on top of both the [[precentral gyrus|precentral]] and the [[postcentral gyrus]] (for both motor and sensory). The man's head is depicted upside down in relation to the rest of the body such that the forehead is closest to the shoulders. The lips, hands, feet and sex organs have more sensory neurons than other parts of the body, so the homunculus has correspondingly large lips, hands, feet, and genitals. The motor homunculus is very similar to the sensory homunculus, but differs in several ways. Specifically, the motor homunculus has a portion for the tongue most lateral while the sensory homunculus has an area for genitalia most medial and an area for visceral organs most lateral.<ref>{{cite book|last = Saladin|first = Kenneth|title = Anatomy and Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function, 6th Edition|publisher = McGraw-Hill|year = 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=anat/motor-anat |title=BrainConnection.com - The Anatomy of Movement |publisher=Brainconnection.positscience.com |access-date=2012-01-29 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120726100811/http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=anat/motor-anat |archive-date=2012-07-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Well known in the field of neurology, this is also commonly called "the little man inside the brain". This scientific model is known as the [[cortical homunculus]].

In medical science, the term homunculus is sometimes applied to certain [[fetus]]-like ovarian cystic [[teratoma]]e. These will sometimes contain hair, sebaceous material and in some cases [[cartilage|cartilaginous]] or [[bone|bony]] structures.<ref name="LeeKim2003">{{cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=Yong Ho|last2=Kim|first2=Sung Gun|last3=Choi|first3=Sung Hyuk|last4=Kim|first4=In Sun|last5=Kim|first5=Sun Haeng|title=Ovarian Mature Cystic Teratoma Containing Homunculus: A Case Report|journal=Journal of Korean Medical Science|volume=18|issue=6|year=2003|pages=905–907|issn=1011-8934|doi=10.3346/jkms.2003.18.6.905|pmc=3055135|pmid=14676454}}</ref>

In a recent article published in the peer-reviewed journal Leonardo "The Missing Female Homunculus”<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1162/leon_a_02012|title = The Missing Female Homunculus|year = 2020|last1 = Wright|first1 = Haven|last2 = Foerder|first2 = Preston|journal = Leonardo| volume=54 | issue=6 |pages = 1–8|s2cid = 227275778|doi-access = free}}</ref> by Haven Wright and Preston Foerder revisits the history of the Homunculus, sheds light on current research in neuroscience on the female brain, and reveals what they believe to be the first sculpture of the female Homunculus, done by the artist and first author Haven Wright, based on the current research available.