It would seem as though there must be some intuitive representation of things like context or mental state, i.e. some cognitive mapping thats not tied to any sensory apparatus, but is a sparse representation over spaces that provide internal measurements that occur automatically.
This is highly relevant to things like emotion and drive, but also deals with for example, measuring glucose levels in the blood. Automated regulatory mechanisms are built upon these functions, e.g. starting or stopping insulin production.
Building Intelligence 