title: Oscillatory neural responses evoked by natural vestibular stimuli in humans.
abstract: While there have been numerous studies of the vestibular system in mammals, less is known about the brain mechanisms of vestibular processing in humans. In particular, of the studies that have been carried out in humans over the last 30 years, none has investigated how vestibular stimulation (VS) affects cortical oscillations. Here we recorded high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in healthy human subjects and a group of bilateral vestibular loss patients (BVPs) undergoing transient and constant-velocity passive whole body yaw rotations, focusing our analyses on the modulation of cortical oscillations in response to natural VS. The present approach overcame significant technical challenges associated with combining natural VS with human electrophysiology and reveals that both transient and constant-velocity VS are associated with a prominent suppression of alpha power (8-13 Hz). Alpha band suppression was localized over bilateral temporo-parietal scalp regions, and these alpha modulations were significantly smaller in BVPs. We propose that suppression of oscillations in the alpha band over temporo-parietal scalp regions reflects cortical vestibular processing, potentially comparable with alpha and mu oscillations in the visual and sensorimotor systems, respectively, opening the door to the investigation of human cortical processing under various experimental conditions during natural VS.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain-Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gale
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain-Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prsa
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain-Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schurger
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Annietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gay
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain-Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Aurore
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paillard
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain-Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herbelin
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Guyot
authors.affiliation: Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, NIA UMR 7260, Marseille, France; and.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain-Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland olaf.blanke@epfl.ch.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Blanke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012399:Rotation; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: EEG; vestibular cortex; vestibular processing