Sensorimotor integration: basic concepts, abnormalities related to movement disorders and sensorimotor training-induced cortical reorganization.
BACKGROUND
Sensorimotor integration is defined as the capability of the central nervous system to integrate different sources of stimuli, and parallelly, to transform such inputs in motor actions.


OBJECTIVE
To review the basic principles of sensorimotor integration, such as, its neural bases and its elementary mechanisms involved in specific goal-directed tasks performed by healthy subjects, and the abnormalities reported in the most common movement disorders, such as, Parkinson' disease, dystonia and stroke, like the cortical reorganization-related mechanisms.


CONCLUSIONS
Whether these disorders are associated with an abnormal peripheral sensory input or defective central processing is still unclear, but most of the data support a central mechanism. We found that the sensorimotor integration process plays a potential role in elementary mechanisms involved in specific goal-directed tasks performed by healthy subjects and in occurrence of abnormalities in most common movement disorders and, moreover, play a potential role on the acquisition of abilities that have as critical factor the coupling of different sensory data which will constitute the basis of elaboration of motor outputs consciously goal-directed.
Machado
Sergio
S
Cartografía Cerebral e Integración Sensitivomotora, Instituto de Psiquiatría, Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro, IPUB/UFRJ, Brasil. secm80@yahoo.com.br
Cunha
Marlo
M
Velasques
Bruna
B
Minc
Daniel
D
Teixeira
Silmar
S
Domingues
Clayton A
CA
Silva
Julio G
JG
Bastos
Victor H
VH
Budde
Henning
H
Cagy
Mauricio
M
Basile
Luis
L
Piedade
Roberto
R
Ribeiro
Pedro
P
D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004421:Dystonia / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology