Development of sensory-motor maps

 

The execution of targeted movements requires the establishment of a functionally meaningful alignment between motor and sensory maps. This alignment is key to retrieving spatial information from sensory content, which allows us to locate an object by its sound, odour or, in fact, by seeing it – this alignment is what creates a sense of space. One possibility is that the alignment is enforced developmentally by appropriate connectivity so that a point on a sensory map finds its corresponding point on the motor map. 

Our aim is to dissect the role of sensory input in the formation of functional motor maps.