The Role of the Sensorimotor System in Cognitive Functions

The discovery of neurons with sensory properties in frontal motor circuits, and the discovery that these circuits send modulatory signals to the sensory parietal areas, strongly challenged the classical idea of a motor system as a mere executor of commands, and suggested that the sensorimotor system may contribute to the cognitive processes necessary for interaction with the world. On this basis, embodied cognition theory states that the mind, body, and its surrounding environment are highly interrelated, and hence, mutually dependent upon each other. In this view, human cognition is deeply rooted in the body’s interactions with its physical environment. One key notion of embodiment is the sharing of neural resources between cognitive and sensorimotor processes. In this Special Issue, “The Role of the Sensorimotor System in Cognitive Functions”, belonging to the section “Behavioral Neuroscience” of Brain Sciences, a range of exciting contributions (eight articles and one review) provide evidence of the involvement of the sensorimotor system during tasks addressing different cognitive functions, such as perception of time, space coding, kinesthetic imagery, and processing of concrete and abstract words. Furthermore, findings are reported suggesting that this relationship is causal, and that specific sensorimotor training improves the related cognitive functions.