Research in the last four decades has brought a considerable advance in our understanding
of how the brain synthesizes information arising from different sensory modalities. Indeed,
many cortical and subcortical areas, beyond those traditionally considered to be
'associative,'have been shown to be involved in multisensory interaction and integration
(Ghazanfar and Schroeder 2006). Visuo-tactile interaction is of particular interest, because
of the prominent role played by vision in guiding our actions and anticipating their tactile …

Our ability to interact with the environment requires the integration of multisensory
information for the construction of spatial representations. The peripersonal space (ie, the
sector of space closely surrounding one's body) and the integrative processes between
visual and tactile inputs originating from this sector of space have been at the center of
recent years investigations. Neurophysiological studies provided evidence for the presence
in the monkey brain of bimodal neurons, which are activated by tactile as well as visual …