Editorial: Mechanisms Underlying the Interplay Between Cognition and Motor Control: From Bench to Bedside

Carsten, Thomas [UCL] Derosiere, Gerard [UCL] Wessel, Maximilian J. Hummel, Friedhelm C. Duque, Julie [UCL]

Movements establish intended outcomes in the environment. To set these goals of movement, a plethora of brain process, often termed ‘cognition’, spell out the intended course of action. Articles investigating whether and when cognitive and motor functions may interact, and which brain regions may be responsible for their integration, are featured in the Research Topic ‘Mechanisms Underlying the Interplay Between Cognition and Motor Control: From Bench to Bedside’. In this Editorial, we summarize these empirical and theoretical findings and draw four main conclusions: 1) Cognition and movement likely follow similar overarching goals and hence are subject to common regulatory mechanisms. 2) Cognition and movement share neural resources implicated in a broad range of motor and cognitive functions. 3) Cognition is likely central for movement control: Matching predicted and perceived sensory outcomes of own movement reveals whether movement is effective in establishing intended outcomes or requires correction. 4) Movement-related brain activity may be utilized for cognitive functions: Simulating movement may promote accurate sensory predictions, which may then be utilized for abstract operations such as planning, inference or thinking. In short, we provide a brief introduction for the idea that cognition and movement operate as direct functions of each other.