The Sensory-Cognitive Interplay: Insights into Neural Mechanisms and Circuits

Senses are our interface for acting in the external world. Consequently, sensory-motor information grounds and drives our higher cognitive processes. At the same time, we are impinged by a multitude of sensory inputs with variable saliency. It is therefore crucial that the process- ing of sensory inputs and motor signals is modulated by cognitive and executive mechanisms such as expectation, memory, attention, emotion, planning, monitoring. This is needed to highlight sensory information that is currently rel- evant for task goals, and to adapt motor control and behav- ior accordingly. The strict intertwining of sensory, motor, and cognitive functions is evidenced in aging and in neuro- logical disorders. Indeed, sensory-motor dysfunctions of- ten accompany higher-level dysfunctions in older popula- tions [1] and in neurological subjects (e.g., in dyslexia, at- tention deficit hyperactivity disorders, or autism spectrum disorders) [2,3] [...]