title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Neuroimaging Laboratory, Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome. e.macaluso@hsantalucia.it
authors.forename: Emiliano
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Macaluso
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*