Introduction to the Special Issue on The Merging of the Senses

The 1993 book The Merging of the Senses has proven to be a profoundly impactful text that has shaped research programs studying the interaction between the senses for the last three decades. The book combines skillful and approachable narration with engaging illustrations and was received with rave reviews on publication as one of the first comprehensive approaches to the subject. It captures the impressive breadth of domains in which multisensory integration impacts the daily life of all animals and promotes a systematic approach to understanding its underlying operation by interrogating the nervous system at multiple levels, from the peripheral organ, through convergence, integration, and decision-making, to effected behavior. Thirty years later, the multiple generations of scientists that have been inspired by the text have built an amazing structure on this foundation, through advancing refinements in theory and experimental technique, investigation of new domains and species, an understanding of the origins, maturation, and plasticity of the process, the translation of biological principles to artificial systems, and discovering new applications of multisensory research in clinical and rehabilitative domains.