Sensory system interactions during simultaneous vestibular and visual stimulation in PET.
The patterns of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) increases and decreases in PET were compared for unimodal vestibular, unimodal visual, and for simultaneous vestibular and visual stimulation. Thirteen healthy volunteers were exposed to a) caloric vestibular stimulation, b) small-field visual motion stimulation in roll, c) simultaneous caloric vestibular and visual pattern stimulation. Unimodal vestibular stimulation led to activations of vestibular cortex areas, in particular the parieto-insular vestibular cortex (PIVC), and concurrent deactivations of visual cortical areas [Brodmann area (BA) 17-19]. Unimodal visual motion stimulation led to activations of the striate visual cortex and the motion-sensitive area in the middle temporal/middle occipital gyri (BA 19/37) with concurrent deactivations in the PIVC. Simultaneous bimodal stimulation resulted in activations of the cortical representation of both sensory modalities. In the latter condition activations and deactivations were significantly smaller compared to unimodal stimulation. The findings are consistent with the concept of an inhibitory reciprocal vestibulo-visual interaction in all three stimulus conditions.
Deutschländer
Angela
A
Department of Neurology, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. adeutsch@nro.med.uni-muenchen.de
Bense
Sandra
S
Stephan
Thomas
T
Schwaiger
Markus
M
Brandt
Thomas
T
Dieterich
Marianne
M
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*