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Sensory processing and its relevance to occupational performance: a systematic review.
Alicia Gibello-Rufo1, Elisa M Garrido-Ardila2, María Jiménez-Palomares2
1Faculty of Nursing and Occupational Therapy at the University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 10, 2026
Summary
Sensory processing challenges significantly impact daily functioning and well-being. Addressing these sensory difficulties is crucial for improving occupational performance and overall quality of life.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Occupational Therapy
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Sensory processing enables adaptive responses to stimuli.
- Altered sensory processing can lead to modulation, integration, or discrimination difficulties.
- These difficulties negatively affect occupational performance, participation, well-being, and quality of life.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the relationship between sensory processing and occupational performance.
- To inform the design of personalized interventions promoting autonomy and participation.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review following PRISMA protocol (PROSPERO ID: CRD420251102155).
- Searches in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (2015-2025).
- Inclusion of studies with quantitative, qualitative, or mixed approaches assessing sensory processing and occupational performance.
Main Results:
- Twenty heterogeneous studies were included.
- Consistent associations found between sensory processing disorders (hyperactivity, avoidance, under-registration) and difficulties in personal autonomy, motor planning, social participation, emotional self-regulation, and psychological well-being.
Conclusions:
- Sensory processing is fundamental to occupational performance.
- Sensory difficulties significantly impair occupational participation and individual functionality.
- Systematic assessment of sensory processing is vital for effective interventions, with a need for further research in undiagnosed adults and community settings.
Related Concept Videos
01:11Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System
The somatosensory system is the central and peripheral nervous system component that senses and processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position or proprioception. The process of sensation takes place at three levels:
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...
01:20Parallel Processing
The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...
01:31What is a Sensory System?
Sensory systems detect stimuli—such as light and sound waves—and transduce them into neural signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system. In addition to external stimuli detected by the senses, some sensory systems detect internal stimuli—such as the proprioceptors in muscles and tendons that send feedback about limb position.
01:15Sensory Modalities
Sensation typically is the process by which the sensory receptors and sense organs detect stimuli from the internal and external environment and transmit this information to the central nervous system for processing.
General senses refer to the broad category of sensory information detected by receptors in the body and can be further grouped into somatic and visceral senses. Somatic sensations include touch, pressure, temperature, and pain and are essential for navigating our environment and...
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01:28Perception
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Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...
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01:29Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways
Somatic sensory or somatosensory pathways refer to the neural pathways that carry information related to touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and proprioception from the skin, muscles, tendons, and joints to the brain. These pathways involve several stages of processing and integration of sensory information.
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The dorsal...
The somatosensory system is divided into three main pathways: the dorsal (or posterior) column-medial lemniscus, spinothalamic (or anterolateral), and spinocerebellar pathways.
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