MULTISENSORY INTEGRATION

Abstract

One of the very basic functions of the brain and the entire nervous system is controlling and producing the body’s reactions, the fundamental component of which is movement. Even though the idea of the external initiation of movement as a pure result of sensory stimulation is obsolete, afferent proprioceptive information has a crucial role in initiation and in performing the movement under physiological conditions. Movement must be addressed as sensory-motor activity, bearing in mind that every production of purposeful movement is preceded by an evaluation of the current sensory situation. The function of the individual senses is broadly acknowledged, but only in recent decades has research shown the extent of cooperation among these systems, how they interact, influence each other, and in some cases even substitute for each other.  The process that explains the sharing of the information among the senses is called multisensory integration (MSI). It is crucial process in processing sensory data, and its dysfunction is inevitably reflected in one’s behaviour. The presented work explains basic MSI terminology, evaluates the evolution of this capacity and reflects its possible use in therapeutic interventions.