Perceptual information can be investigated on different levels, from low-level information to more complex processes that develop across the lifespan. Regarding low-level information, Castellotti et al. investigated the role of local information in recognizing occluded images, showing that local information contributes to successfully reconstructing a visual image even when information is severely occluded. In contrast, List showed how selective attention to local and global information eliminates the level-specific priming effect in a multi-modal (audio-visual) context, while this effect has been demonstrated within both the visual and auditory modalities. However, not only low-level processes can influence perception, but also more complex processes involving body ownership and the stage at which people are in their life span. For example, La Rocca et al. found that the sense of ownership over different face identities can be influenced by congruent visuo-tactile and visuo-motor synchronous stimulation. Aloufi et al. demonstrated how sex differences can influence auditory perception. Specifically, following a literature review, the authors highlighted that women have more sensitive hearing than men. However, this higher auditory sensitivity varies concerning the menstrual cycle. Moreover, Incao et al. investigated how aging affects visual perception when faced with a spatial or temporal task, finding a general decline in perceptual acuity in both domains, but that the influence of prior knowledge determined by context does not change. However, more significant inter-individual variability is present in old age, perhaps due to different strategies that older individuals need to adopt to face higher uncertainty in the perceptual process.

Part of this Research Topic is dedicated to the role of the senses in promoting the typical development of different aspects of cognitive functions and how the lack of one of these can change the way blind and deaf individuals perform across tasks.

In particular, Leo et al. and Maimon et al. present evidence that congenital visual deprivation does not prevent the development of skills typically dominated by vision, such as object recognition (Leo et al.) and spatial information (Maimon et al.). Indeed, while Leo et al. show that congenitally blind individuals explore objects differently with their hands, but do not present lower accuracy with respect to late blind and sighted controls, Maimon et al. show that congenitally blind can learn to use a sensory substitution system (aimed at supporting spatial navigation) as effectively and as quickly as visually impaired individuals.

Similarly, Buyle and Crollen and Gessa et al. revealed that auditory deprivation does not impair the learning of basic and more complex skills, such as mathematics. Indeed, Buyle and Crollen found comparable subtraction and multiplication skills across deaf and hearing individuals. Gessa et al. found that sound localization in age-related hearing loss can be improved by head-movements, suggesting that self-regulation strategies and active behavior can keep spatial hearing functional.

Finally, Soker-Elimaliah et al. present a work on the relationship between pupil light reflex (PLR) and atypical neurodevelopment. PLR is associated with sensory processing and thus provides a good model to investigate the link between sensory and social functioning, especially in cases when the latter is impaired, such as autism.

We receive information about the world around us from multiple senses that interact and are combined and integrated into a multisensory framework. In the Research Topics, there is a set of important results related to multisensory processing in typical and atypical individuals considering language, reward, learning, attention, memory, and perceptual processing. In particular, Benetti et al. discussed multimodal processing in face-to-face interactions proposing a neurocognitive model of multimodal face-to-face communication psycholinguistics and sensory neuroscience. Fisher et al. showed that sensory noise might underlie attentional alterations to multisensory integration in a modality-specific manner supporting the idea that attentional paradigm might be used to study sensory processing in neurological disorders. Shvadron et al. applied multisensory knowledge to sensory substitution devices showing that by utilizing a visual-to-auditory sensory substitution device (SSD), the EyeMusic, it was possible to detect shapes by converting images to sound. Antono et al. show that visual and auditory reward cues can produce a value-driven modulation of perception. Finally, Murray and Shams review some recent findings that demonstrate a range of human learning and memory phenomena in which the interactions between visual and auditory modalities play an important role and suggest possible neural mechanisms that can underlie some recent findings.

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.