The circuit architecture of cortical multisensory processing: distinct functions jointly operating within a common anatomical network

Publication date: Available online 21 January 2019Source: Progress in NeurobiologyAuthor(s): Guido T. Meijer, Paul E.C. Mertens, Cyriel M.A. Pennartz, Umberto Olcese, Carien S. LansinkAbstractOur perceptual systems continuously process sensory inputs from different modalities and organize these streams of information such that our subjective representation of the outside world is a unified experience. By doing so, they also enable further cognitive processing and behavioral action. While cortical multisensory processing has been extensively investigated in terms of psychophysics and mesoscale neural correlates, an in depth understanding of the underlying circuit-level mechanisms is lacking. Previous studies on circuit-level mechanisms of multisensory processing have predominantly focused on cue integration, i.e. the mechanism by which sensory features from different modalities are combined to yield more reliable stimulus estimates than those obtained by using single sensory modalities. In this review, we expand the framework on the circuit-level mechanisms of cortical multisensory processing by highlighting that multisensory processing is a family of functions – rather than a single operation – which involves not only the integration but also the segregation of modalities. In addition, multisensory processing not only depends on stimulus features, but also on cognitive resources, such as attention and memory, as well as behavioral context, to determine the behavioral outc...
Source: Progress in Neurobiology - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research