Multisensory vestibular cortex activated by otolith stimulation (fMRI)

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) triggered by tone bursts represent a vestibulocollic reflex of the sacculus otolith with descending pathways for head and trunk stabilization in space. Hence, no ascending pathways to the vestibular cortex have been investigated in humans. Therefore, aim of this fMRI study was to determine whether VEMPs can also activate the multisensory vestibular cortex in humans, for which a network of temporo-insular-parietal areas in both hemispheres with a dominance of the non-dominant hemisphere was characterized by imaging studies during galvanic stimulation of the vestibular…