title: Reaching with the sixth sense: Vestibular contributions to voluntary motor control in the human right parietal cortex.
abstract: The vestibular system constitutes the silent sixth sense: It automatically triggers a variety of vital reflexes to maintain postural and visual stability. Beyond their role in reflexive behavior, vestibular afferents contribute to several perceptual and cognitive functions and also support voluntary control of movements by complementing the other senses to accomplish the movement goal. Investigations into the neural correlates of vestibular contribution to voluntary action in humans are challenging and have progressed far less than research on corresponding visual and proprioceptive involvement. Here, we demonstrate for the first time with event-related TMS that the posterior part of the right medial intraparietal sulcus processes vestibular signals during a goal-directed reaching task with the dominant right hand. This finding suggests a qualitative difference between the processing of vestibular vs. visual and proprioceptive signals for controlling voluntary movements, which are pre-dominantly processed in the left posterior parietal cortex. Furthermore, this study reveals a neural pathway for vestibular input that might be distinct from the processing for reflexive or cognitive functions, and opens a window into their investigation in humans.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Spemannstr. 38, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: alex.reichenbach@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reichenbach
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Spemannstr. 38, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, University of Grenoble, BP47, 38040 Grenoble, Cedex 9, France; Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, Boulevard de Pérolles 90, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bresciani
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Spemannstr. 38, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Anam-dong 5ga, Seonbuk-gu, Seoul 136-713, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: heinrich.buelthoff@tuebingen.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Heinrich H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Bülthoff
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Spemannstr. 38, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Danish Research Center for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital, Kettegård Alle 30, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark; Biomedical Engineering Section, Technical University of Denmark, Anker Engelunds Vej 1, Building 101A, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thielscher
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Human posterior parietal cortex; Reaching movement; Sensorimotor integration; Transcranial magnetic stimulation; Vestibular afferent; Voluntary movement