Multisensory processing in sensory-specific cortical areas

Abstract

The anatomical organization of the brain is such that incoming signals from different sensory modalities are initially processed in anatomically separate regions of the cortex. When these signals originate from a single event or object in the external world, it is essential that the inputs are integrated to form a coherent representation of the multisensory event. This review discusses recent data indicating that the integration of multisensory signals relies not only on anatomical convergence from sensory-specific cortices to multi-sensory brain areas but also on reciprocal influences between cortical regions that are traditionally considered as sensory-specific. These findings highlight integration mechanisms that go beyond traditional models based on a hierarchical convergence of sensory processing.